■DC 

- v#55" 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




00D13blfcSEfl 



Owing to shortness of time, the Editor has overlooked 
several errors in the copy and the press, for which he solicits 
the indulgence of the public, and begs the reader to correct the 
following : — 

Page 14, last line, transpose forme r and latter. 

45, i st line, read 74,087. 

56, in the* column of Kilied, read 

Grand total, 137,635 

Add killed, &c. 353,396 

Total, 413,396 

■ 

No. destroyed, 162,104 
Page 93, 1. 8, and* 101, last line, read Henry IF. 

94, 1. io, read Alfred. 

107, 1. 30, for exemption, read exception. 

123, 1. 18, for possessions, read command. 

> 1. 22, for Mediterranean, read Archipelago. 



REFLECTIONS 



ON 



THE WAR OF 1812. 

WITH 

TABLES, 

SHEWING THE NUMERICAL FORCE OF THE ENEMY, WHEN HE ENTEREB 
nUSSIA, AND THE LOSSES HE SUSTAINED IN THE SUBSEQUENT 

BATTLES AND ACTIONS 

FROM 
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CAMPAIGN TO THE 1ST OF JANURAY, 18133 

FOUNDED UPON OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS. 



** A world in arms cotlld not dismay a people devoted to their God, sov- 
ereign, and country." Page 8- 



BY COLONEL TCHUYKEVITCH, 



ATTACHED TO THE STAFF, AND IN THE SUITE OF HIS RUSSIAN 
IMPERIAL MAJESTY. 



PRINTED AND PUBLISHED AT ST. PETERSBURG ; AND TRANSLATED FROM 

THE RUSSIAN, 

BY MR. EUSTAPHIEVE. 

WITH 

STRICTURES ON " THE CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA." 



BOSTON : 

RE-PRINTED BY MUNROE & FRANCIS, 

No. 4, Cornhill, 

1813. 



TO MY COUNTRYMEN, 

W hole nations, subdued and oppressed, groaned un- 
der the heavy yoke imposed on them by perfidy and 
violence, when Napoleon, not yet satiated with human 
blood, cast his baleful eyes upon you, hardy sons of the 
North I and with the impatient stride of a giant advan- 
ced to put on you his chains, the more galling as you, 
confident in your prowess, proudly refused to bend 
your stubborn knee before his altar. But your cause 
was just ; and the God of battles, who combatted on 
your side, inspired your government with wisdom not 
to be impaired, with firmness not to be shaken, and 
serenity not to be disturbed, even amidst the storm 
that seemed to threaten inevitable ruin. .Your warriours, 
your nobles, your clergy, your citizens, each worthy 
son of Russia, (and all were worthy,) presented at 
once a population of heroes : and to save the country, 
was but one universal wish, and one undivided effort, 
admitting of no other distinction but that of individual 
toil, and individual sacrifice. 

Russians ! you have triumphed over a foe who in 
skill and treachery, as in power, knew no equal. You 
have struck the world with wonder and astonishment ; 
and have nobly proved that heroic deeds are your un. 
alienable inheritance ; and that you are still the same. 



[ 



] 



of whom in ancient days the neighbouring nations thus 
expressed their awe : Against God and great Novgorod 
who can stand ?* An attempt to conquer such a peo- 
ple, to enthrall the millions possessed of one loyal 
heart, and one daring soul, could only be the effect of 
rashness, of ungovernable fury, of madness, leading to 
a punishment at once certain and terrible, such as was 
actually inflicted* 

Despondency belongs not to the character, and is un- 
worthy of the name of a Russian. Taught by the 
splendid examples of his ancestors, he would rather 
cease to exist, than fear an invader, or mistrust his abil- 
ity to defend his home : accordingly, all was confi- 
dence ; and posterity will say — The Russian people in 
the days of Alexander were still themselves. 



[* This question was so often used, that it at length became 
proverbial among the foreigners who knew Novgorod by fame, 
or from 'personal intercourse. JVote of the Editor. J 



REFLECTIONS 



THE WAR OF 1812. 



Amidst the dreadful convulsions which distorted the 
face of Europe, Russia alone remained unshaken ; and 
it was to her, as to some guardian genius, that the suf- 
fering nations still looked for protection and deliver- 
ance. Her welfare, therefore, and her political indepen- 
dence, were incompatible with the sinister designs of 
Napoleon, who relished and sought no power, but such 
as was raised and established upon the ruins of thrones 
subverted, and empires overthrown. 

Hitherto, unchecked in his conquests, accustomed 
to victory, and unused to the inconstancy of fortune, he 
thought it an easy task, the achievement of a day, to 
dictate laws to Russia, and make her dependent on his 
will ; and in the fulness of his pride, or rather with all 
the blindness of presumptuous temerity, he decreed, 
and pronounced the speedy annihilation of her power : 
but his expectations being frustrated, his hopes blasted, 
and his designs turned to his own mortification, a severe 
and heavy penalty was exacted from him for that easy 
credulity which made him the dupe of his own spies, 
and informers. 



REFLECTIONS ON 

It was natural to expect, that, notwithstanding the 
awful approach of war, the firther effusion of hu- 
man blood, already shed in such prodigious torrents, 
would be prevented by the timely peace with Turkey ; 
an event totally unexpected by Napoleon, and highly 
creditable to the foresight and wisdom of the Russian 
government : but this pleasing hope soon vanished, and 
every friend of humanity who indulged it, found himself 
grievously disappointed, and cruelly deceived. This 
peace, as it disengaged the external forces of Russia, 
and enabled her to turn all her means to the sole object 
of home defence, increased the danger of persisting in a 
war with her ; but so obvious a consideration, though 
founded on common sense, and calculated to deter any 
other man, had no weight whatever with the ruler of 
the French nation. He was a slave to other motives, 
which were repugnant to the dictates of prudence, 
sound judgment, and moderation. France was exhaust- 
ed, (1) as well as her allies or the countries conquered 
by her : nothing therefore but the spoils of war could 
procure him the means of continuing it, and of reim- 
bursing the enormous expenses which he incurred by 
his immense preparations. Some new exploit was like- 
wise necessary to repair his disasters in Spain ; (2) 
which he hoped to reconquer in Russia, well knowing 
that the fall of this last power would at once place the 
whole European continent at his mercy. Moreover, 
he dreaded the pungent satire of London journals ; (3) 
and had not the courage, while all plausible pretext 
was wanting, to withdraw the troops which he collect- 
ed between the Niemen and Vistula, Impelled by 



THE WAR OF 1812. 7 

these reasons, and forgetting the historical prowess of the 
Scythians, the ruin of Cyrus, the defeat of Darius, and 
the repulse of Alexander ; this infatuated man led his 
host against the descendants, not yet degenerated, of 
the same brave Scythians; approached our territories, 
and dared to pass them. In taking so bold a step, his 
strength and his confidence were in the immensity of 
his forces, one half of which was equal to our whole ar- 
my of the west, appointed to oppose his entrance.* 
Against an enemy so powerful and so implacable, Rus- 
sia had to rely entirely upon herself. She had recourse 
to extraordinary means and exertions ; and the sacrifices 
she made are unexampled in the history of nations. 

Frequent and painful experience has sufficiently de- 
monstrated the incompetency of coalitions to attain the 
end proposed, and their consequences, often ruinous, 
and seldom beneficial, to the coalesced powers. Each 
party may have been capable of bringing force into the 
field, sufficient to crush the enemy; but the discordant 
opinions of the respective cabinets, the passions and 
prej udices of the leaders, the clashing of opposite inter- 
ests, mutual jealousies counteracting the necessary se- 
lection of one chief to direct the whole, and the gradual 
deviation from the original object in view, have been the 
uniform causes of advantage to an artful and enterpriz- 
ing enemy, w r ho acting for himself alone,and united in his 
designs, efforts and execution, was enabled to defeat in 
detail the projects of the allies, and to triumph over a 
combination which at first seemed to threaten his anni 

* For an exact account and division of this great army, 
the reader is referred to the annexed table No. !. 



a REFLECTIONS ON 

hilation. It was therefore a happy circumstance, (for 
which the Almighty be praised ! ) that Russia was placed 
in a situation to encounter alone and single handed, her 
powerful adversary, deprived of the usual weapons of 
division and corruption. Within her own bosom she 
found every virtue necessary for self defence ; and, con- 
fiding in Providence, she calmly reposed herself upon 
her own resources. Nothing could now obstruct her 
movements ; and no extraneous influence could now in- 
terfere with the choice of her plan, or the conduct of 
her operations : a world in arms could not dismay a peo- 
ple devoted to their God, sovereign, and country. 

The emperor of Russia, exhausted in his efforts to 
preserve peace with France, yet firm in his principles of 
moderation, rather than violate the sanctity of treaties, 
and be the aggressor even in appearance, resigned to 
the enemy all the advantages, which, in anticipation, he 
might have secured to himself, by occupying all the 
countries bordering on the Vistula : but being at the 
same time convinced that a mere obstinate defence of 
the frontier, if ever so successful, would merely protract 
the war, he preferred a mode of warfare which could 
not fail of being decisive, and whose final success w r as 
already foreseen and predicted. It was in conformity to 
the plan so adopted, that our armies were stationed at 
different points between the Baltic and the Dneister. 
This division or dismemberment of troops in sight of the 
enemy, predetermined, watchful, and eager to force 
himself into the heart of the empire, seemed at first 
contrary to the established principles of military tactics, 
as it afforded him an opportunity, by an easier concen- 



THE WAR OF 1812. 9 

tration of force, to destroy ours in detail : but the 
measures previously devised, and wisely conceived, for 
the junction of the different corps, were so successfully 
executed as to defeat all the calculations of Napoleon, 
and to secure to the Russian commander, the glory of 
having performed a task infinitely more difficult than 
that which the enemy had imposed upon himself. Na- 
poleon had only to choose a point of attack, and advance 
with all his strength; while the Russian general had to 
guard each point, to recede unbroken from the first 
shock, to rescue the detached fragments from impetuous 
pursuit, and to unite them in face of the pressing ene- 
my ; all which was accomplished almost without loss, 
in a manner to afford every assurance of final triumph. 

The previous disposition of our forces was, however, 
in other respects highly advantageous, as it secured the 
facility of supplies; convinced Europe that self defence, 
and not territorial aggrandizement was our principal ob- 
ject ; and effectually concealed the real plan of the cam- 
paign chosen by our government, as best calculated to 
repel an enemy of Buonaparte's character. (5) 

The natural and unavoidable result of this plan, when 
once our forces escaped the danger of being cut off in 
part, was the certainty of finding new resources at each 
retrograde step ; while the enemy, having missed the 
first advantage of attack, was drawn farther and farther 
from his means. As we receded, our strength increas- 
ed, our forces became concentrated, and our efforts con- 
solidated ; he, on the contrary, becoming weaker from 
his apparent success, was advancing into a country 



1© REFLECTIONS ON 

where famine and the elements lay in ambush, to render 
his farther progress impossible, and even his retreat haz- 
ardous. At length we turned to conquer ; and he — - 
the conqueror himself — was conquered. 

The first principle of defensive war is to do nothing 
but xvhat is diametrically opposite to the wishes of the 
enemy. 

At the very opening of the campaign, Napoleon en- 
deavoured to bring us to a general battle : it was there- 
fore our interest to adhere to the plan adopted, and avoid, 
at least for a time, a decisive engagement. He was pro- 
digal of the lives of his soldiers, and often sacrificed 
them at hazard, in wanton and ruinous enterprizes ; but 
the lives of our soldiers, endeared to us by aifection, 
were further to be spared by duty and policy, which 
reserved them for the more solemn and important occa- 
sions, recognised by the voice, and indicated by the ne- 
cessities, of our country. 

Defensive war is certainly not congenial to the martial 
spirit of the Russian people ; but it should be remem- 
bered how much we had at stake, and how great was the 
prize of our temporary submission to this system ; no 
less than the integrity, independence, nay, the very ex- 
istence of our beloved country. A transient occupa- 
tion of our towns and provinces by the enemy, and even 
the destruction of the capital, was more than compen- 
sated by the safety of our armies, on which every thing 
else depended, and which finally proved the preservation 
of all. Besides, the example of Peter the Great, when he 
opposed the incensed Charles XII. ; the errors of 
precipitation which caused the disasters of Marengo and 



THE WAR OF 1812. U 

Jena ; and the opposite prudent conduct of Lord Wel- 
lington in Spain, probably influenced by the success of 
that same system which immortalized the hero of Pulta- 
va,* were sufficient to justify the course preferred by 
our commanders. (6) 

f* As it was Peter the Great who had in some measure origr 
inated a system of defence, founded upon retreating, laying waste 
the country, and destroying the enemy's supplies, it is more 
consistent with historical truth, and the course of human experi- 
ence, to suppose, that he was the model for his own countrymen, 
as well as for the hero of Spain ; than to imagine the latter 
(Lord Wellington) to have been the model for the Russians, or 
that to him they were indebted for the plan and conduct of the 
last campaign : a notion which, though it may be excused in an 
Englishman on account of national vanity, certainly cannot be 
justified in an American. Russia had generals at home, whose 
temples were crowned with laurels before Lord Wellington 
was born ; she could not therefore think herself for a moment 
in need of advice from a stranger, who must have appeared 
to her comparatively unexperienced. She prides herself on her 
military character to such a degree, as to receive no foreign 
officer into her service, but a grade inferior to that which he 
held at home: moreover, she was so jealous even of the appear- 
ance of any foreign interference or assistance, during her struggle 
for her own political independence, that she absolutely refused a 
subsidy in money, which Great Britain offered to her : conse- 
quently, with such disposition to maintain her dignity, and to 
owe every thing to herself, while herself was the object of de- 
fence, she never could, never did, stoop to the degradation of be- 
ing indebted to a foreigner, ever so distinguished, beyond what 
was warranted by friendship and courtesy. The modest con- 
queror of Soult, so justly entitled to the admiration of the world, 
would blush at the idea of instructing and directing the Russian 
veteran, whose task was the more arduous to perform, as, to 
overcome the main French host, doubled by the personal comr 



12 REFLECTIONS ON 

Napoleon was but too well versed in that species of 
warfare, which has been introduced since the French 

mand of Buonaparte, is more difficult, than to overcome one of 
his generals, with only a part of that host : or, as to throw 
the giant's whole frame to the ground, requires more prowess, 
than to draw blood from his extremities. Let it be granted that 
Lord Wellington would do as much in similar circumstances ; 
yet, until he has been so placed and so tried, he himself will 
scorn the glaring injustice, which would elevate him at the ex- 
pense of those who have successfully preceded him in the 
hardest of trials. As well may it be said, that Frederick the 
Great, because he was contemporary with Washington, com- 
manded in the American revolution ! ! 

These" remarks are made, not from envy and jealousy, or 
a wish to depreciate the victories in Spain ; but from a sense 
of justice to the Russians, to deprive whom of the credit of even 
having fought their own battles, several attempts have been 
lately made here by three distinct classes of men, not including 
democracy, which is professedly hostile to every opposer of 
French aggression. 

The first class, the true proselytes of Dr. Clarke and the 
Edinburgh Reviewers, are so strangely blinded with Scotch 
mist, that, on the wide extensive plain of the Russian campaign, 
viewed by them with a forced approbation, they see all, except 
those who stand on the highest eminence and direct the 
whole. They acknowledge the effect, only to deny the 
cause ; and are so immersed in pretended doubt, as not 
to know whether it was Kutuzow, the declared commander in 
chief, or Platow, a subordinate chief of the Cozaks, or Ber- 
nadotte, whom the Russians had beaten at Mohrungen, or Lord 
Wellington, that led the Russian army to victory and triumph. 
Indeed, they seem of a temper rather to give the credit of the 
campaign to the Hottentots, than allow it to those to whom it 
is due by right and justice ; and some of their friends in Eng- 
land, during the campaign of 180§, went so far as to transform 



THE WAR OF 1812. if 

revolution, and which has cost so much to other nations; 
it was necessary therefore, or it was politic, to choose a 

Beningsen into Moreau, in order to avoid the necessity of ac- 
knowledging any thing in favour of the Russian arms. 

The second class consists of certain virtuosos, who know 
every thing, yet know nothing ; and who, because they have seen 
Buonaparte, and trod the mud of Paris, fancy themselves pro- 
found tacticians. These deny that Russia has any generals 
whatever : and that her successes were the effects of chance 
and climate, or of the superior hardihood of Russian soldiers ; as 
if mere physical strength were the foundation of the system of 
modern warfare, which is, on the contrary, the offspring of 
art and science. Though the military schools in Russia, and 
the regular education of her officers are more extensive at pres- 
ent than, perhaps, in any other country in Europe ; though her 
generals in every instance, except that of Zurich, have uniformly 
triumphed over the French generals, in battles where Buona- 
parte was not present ; and though during the whole, of the 
last campaign, not one Russian general committed a single mis- 
take, for which he was censured or dismissed, while Buona- 
parte and Lord Wellington more than once complained of 
their own ; yet even this assemblage of stubborn facts is not suf- 
ficient to place the Russian officers at least on equality with 
others, in the opinion of the above wiseacres, who, if Moreau 
had lived, would without hesitation, place to his account every 
success of the Russians, and ascribe every misfortune to their 
supposed incapacity. Indeed the death of Moreau (much to be 
lamented) is already proclaimed as a signal of disaster to the 
allied army, which naturally leads to the question, how came 
the Russians to succeed in the last campaign without him ; with- 
out any foreigners whatever, as all such were so studiously ex- 
cluded, that one is inclined to suspect the Russians had foreseen 
the uncharitable construction that would follow ? 

The third class are those who like no virtue which is notBritish* 
With these, all that is English, from the commander in chief, 
*o the meanest soldier, is superior to the rest of the world : 



41 REFLECTIONS ON 

plan as yet novel to him, the success of which would be 
insured by his own impatience and restless spirit. As 

and every battle that is fought by them is far handsomer than 
any other of ten times the extent, gained by any other nation. 
If a British detachment has crossed a ditch at St. Sebastians, 
when the enemy was retreating and setting the city on fire, it 
is the greatest feat in the world. If an English division has 
maintained its position against the attack of an enemy equal in 
numbers, it is an exploit, which none but the British troops could 
have performed. Indeed ?....In the Russian army, the only 
wonder would be, if a Russian division did not maintain its 
position, almost against any number. Ever since the Rus- 
sian army has been organized by Peter the Great, there is 
no instance of any Russian division quitting its position, unless 
positively ordered by the commander. Frederick the Great, 
no particular friend to the Russians, has testified to this in his 
own time, and they certainly have not since degenerated. In 
fact, this exploit, which none but the British troops could have 
performed, is a matter of course, and so common to the Rus- 
sian troops, that 8,000 men, who, for a whole day, suc- 
cessfully opposed general Vandamme at the head of 40,000 
men, excited scarcely a remark from the Russian commander ; 
and were merely noticed in the Austrian official account. In what 
then is this boasted military superiority of the British ? have they 
ever done more than the Russians who withstood Buonaparte, at 
Friedland with 40,000 men against 90,000, and at BtvUtzen 
with 60,000 against more than 100,000 men, as can be proved 
from the English official despatches ? or have the British ever 
sustained a harder trial than the Russians and French fighting 
under the petrifying sky of a Russian winter ? It is idle to talk 
now of British, any more than of French invincibility, since the 
Americans on the ocean, and the Russians on land, have redu- 
ced both to the level of humanity. British valour has its praise, 
so ought the Russian valour ; and from what has lately been 
achieved by either, there is no reason to extol the latter 
above the former : and it would be at least more just and 



THE WAR OF 1812. 15 

these could scarcely fail of drawing him into some im- 
portant errors, the defensive system might then with 
advantage be turned into offensive ; and a fair opportu- 
nity to do so was soon presented, seized, and improved 
to the utter ruin of the invader. The temporary policy of 
avoiding general engagements ; perseverance and decis- 
ion in continuing the contest ; the cutting off of the ene- 
my's supplies ; the intercepting of his foraging parties ; 
and the partizan war by small detachments and flying 
corps, acting upon the whole line of his operations; was 
a system in some degree unexpected, and calculated to 
harass, distress, and destroy him by piecemeal ; (7) 
while the brilliant victories that followed the rapid 
progress of our arms, and the great losses of the enemy 
(detailed in the table No. 2) prove that our government 
was not mistaken in its previous calculations.* Our 
chiefs acquired immortal fame by ably and faithfully 
executing the original design ; and our soldiers exhibit- 
ed to the world the striking examples of valour and for- 
titude that were unconquerable, and of bravery and loy- 
alty that were resistless. 

fair to hold them both in equal estimation. To be brief, if 
the British are preeminent on the field, the Russians are no 
less so ; and an admission of equality between them, ought in 
all conscience to content the most enthusiastic admirers of 
British prowess. As to any recurrence to the ancient battles of 
Poictiers and Agincourt ; it is to be remembered, that the 
Danes and Normans conquered Britain on her own ground ; 
and, consequently, the proofs drawn from antiquity, would de- 
stroy altogether the superiority which is attempted to be estab- 
lished in her favour. Note by the Ed.~] 
* The Russian emperor amply fulfilled what his name seem- 
ed to promise ; for Alexan der in Greek implies v alar ous defence.- 



U> REFLECTIONS ON 

Let us now examine the causes of Napoleon's former 
successes, and enquire whether his claims to preemi- 
nence, acknowledged by so many writers, are founded 
on justice ; and whether history and posterity will rank 
him with Caesar, Peter I. and Frederick II.* (8) 

Those who estimate the genius and military talents of 
Napoleon by the flattering accounts and exaggerated 
descriptions of a Jeomini,\ are as much deceived as 
those who, having implicit faith in the French bulletins, 
dwell with wonder and astonishment on Napoleon's 
great achievements therein detailed. With that shame- 
less falsehood which is the characteristic distinction of 
these bulletins in cases of success, and which in re- 
verses is carried, as it were, beyond its own bounds, the 
able Russian retreat was proclaimed there a disastrous 
rout, and the precipitate flight of Napoleon, an easy, 
leisurely march to the intended winter quarters ! ! 

Let us compare the retreat of the Russian with that of 
the French army. 

From the Niemen to Maloyaroslavets , through Wihia, 
Drissa, Vitepsk, Smolensk, and 3foskwa, there are 1210 
bersts (803-s miles); a distance which the Russian army 
had traversed in 123 days, fighting almost every hour, 

[* The name of Buonaparte never can be associated with these 
illustrious characters ; for, though he has some of their talents, 
he has none of their virtues ;. and it is only to a Herostratus that he 
can, with justice, be assimilated in celebrity. JY. by Ed.~\ 

[t The same who has lately gone over to Bernadotte, and now 
serves in the Russian army. He wrote an Evsai sur la grand 
Tactique, prefaced by a high encomium on Buonaparte, to which 
the author seems here to allude. Note by Ed.~]. 



THE WAR OF is 12. 17 

and disputing every inch of the ground ; and yet in all 
this toilsome and perilous march, constantly exposed to 
the enemy, not a single corps, detachment, or even a 
patrole were surprized, cut off, or otherwise fallen into 
the hands of the enemy ; not a single piece of cannon 
was lost or abandoned. 

From Maloyaroslavetz to Kowno, through Mojaisk^ 
Smolensk, Orsha, Boj'issnff, Smorgonie and Wilna y there 
are 985 versts (656 miles,) and the French army had gone 
over the whole distance in 49 days, losing several corps 
and detachments, all the cavalry, and almost the whole of 
the artillery.- — Query — which of the two armies fled ? 

Flattery and blind zeal have exalted Napoleon above 
all the generals famed in history, and his victories and 
conquests have been uniformly ascribed to his keen fore- 
sight, accurate calculations, and the rapidity of his move- 
ments ; but these, with far greater justice, belonged to 
the immortal Suwarrow, and were only false appearances 
in Buonaparte, caused in reality by his natural impatience 
and fear to protract the war, lest his victims (so French- 
men ought to be called) should feel and learn the fatal 
truth, that their blood is shed only to gratify (an endless 
task !) his insatiable ambition. 

Constant superiority in numbers ; chiefs and soldiers 
looking with certainty to the spoils which were shewn 
them beforehand ; and the enthusiastic French charac- 
ter ; have been the true causes which induced Napoleon 
eagerly to seek great general engagements, one of 
which, or two at most, were sufficient to decide the fate 
of a campaign. And though this restlessness, as may be 
proved from the history of his wars, has often hurried 



18 REFLECTIONS ON 

him into great and palpable mistakes ; it so hap- 
pened, that his adversaries generally had not the 
ability or inclination to turn such mistakes to their own 
profit, and they allowed him to proceed unchecked in 
his career. His military manoeuvres were by no means 
a wonderful emanation of skill, unless it be that skill in 
intrigue, organized and transmitted to him by the revo- 
lutionary government, which he has since exercised, 
through the means of bribery and corruption, and by 
which he has gained far more than by the edge of his 
sword. (9) 

As it is not my present object to point out all the 
faults which Napoleon committed in his former wars ; I 
shall only mention some which were too visible in the 
course of the last campaign, and which may give us a 
more correct notion of his art and proficiency in military 
tactics.* 

1 . On the 3d July, when our first western army leftZ)m- 
sa, and marched through Polozk on Vitepsk, in order to 
form there a junction with the second army ; Napoleon, 
one part of whose troops had on the 4th reached the vil- 
lage of Dokshitza, while the other was on the 6th at Or- 
sha, omitted to take possession of Vitepsk, by the preoc- 
cupation of which he would unquestionably have pre 
vented the junction of our first army with the second, 
near Smolensk. f 

* A general deserves no less praise by drawing the enemy in- 
to errors, so as to turn them to his own profit ; or by counter- 
acting the enemy's designs, so as to convert them to his own ad- 
vantage ; and in this particular, our commanders have preemi- 
nently distinguished themselves. 

t From Drissa to Vitepsk, there are 178 versts ; from Dokshi- 
tza, 160 : and from Orsha, only 80 versts. 



THE WAR OF 1812. 19 

2. After the enemy had entered Orsha and Mohilef, 
our second western army, unable to unite itself with the 
first army at Vitepsk, was obliged to cross the river at 
Novoy-Behoff, and, by a circuitous route through 
Mstislaw, endeavour to gain Smolensk ; yet Marshal 
Davoust, who followed the second army, thus isolated, 
and who commanded a shorter as well as easier road 
from Orsha and Mohilef, direct to Smolensk, neglected 
to anticipate the Russians in the occupation of this last 
pity.* 

The heroic resistance of the Russians at Daschkovka, 
(not the operations of two Cozak detachments under 
Platow, between the 14th and 15th of July, upon Or- 
sha, Kopiss, and Schkloff, the last of which places was 
held two hours by one of these detachments) was prob- 
ably the real cause, and the only excuse for that tardi- 
ness and inactivity which could scarcely be expected 
from one of Napoleon's best generals. 

3. This test, however, of Russian prowess at Dasch- 
kovka, near Vitepsk, and in other places where our rear 
guard had an opportunity to act, ought to have convinced 
Buonaparte that the retreat of the Russians was precon- 
certed, and was the result, not of a defeat, but of a prev- 
ious settled design ; but he spurned this conviction, and 
obstinately persisted in his infatuation. 

* From Orsha to Smolensk there are only 110 versts; 
while from Mohilef through Mstislaw, 195, and through Orsha,~ 
182 : But the village ot Daschkovha, whence the second army 
began its march on 12th July, by Novoy-Behojf and Mstislaw, is 
at least 283 versts distant from Smolensk : so that our army per- 
formed the distance of 283 versts, quicker than Davoust did 
his 110 versts. No wonder that Buonaparte blamed his tardi" 
»ess. 



20 REFLECTIONS ON 

A single glance on the map might have shewn him 
the line which it was dangerous to pass ; but he, wilful- 
ly blind, advanced further, and his destiny dragged him 
on to perdition.* 

4. The Russians abandoned Smolensk, because 
they were in danger of being cut off (through Elnia) 
from Moskow, and the southern provinces, and from 
every communication with the third army : and because 
it was expedient to meet the reinforcements in the rear, 
it being resolved, upon a junction with the Moskow mili- 
tia, and the corps of Miloradovitch, to give the enemy a 
general battle. For this purpose, the retrograde move- 
ment was made on the 6th and 7th of August, when the 
right column of the first army, finding the great Mos- 
kow road, which lay along the left bank of the 
Dnieper, already occupied by the enemy, was obliged 
to proceed by the St. Petersburgh road, and turn into 
that of Moskow at a place called Bredichino : a circui- 
tous march of 26 versts through a very difficult and hilly 
country ; while the enemy had only 15 versts to go. by 
the main road to the same place. The situation of this 
column was truly dangerous : but the French again let 
the opportunity escape them : or, else, the superior val- 
our and rapidity of the Russians again prevailed. They 
performed a march, suph as Russians alone can perform ;f 

* An ominous expression, like the above, was used by him of 
Russia, in the speech which he delivered to the senate, when on 
the eve of departure for the north. 

[t This is not a mere assertion, prompted by national vanity, 
but an absolute fact, a truth not to be doubted. There never was 
a greater injustice d^ne to the Russians, than by limiting the 






THE WAR OF 1812. 21 

overcame every obstacle, outstripped the enemy, and 
left him confounded and lost in perfect amazement. 

praise of their conduct to the mere passive valour and obsti- 
nacy of resistance. To advance with rapidity? and anticipate the 
enemy in attack, has always been their system, so interwo- 
ven with their habits and prejudices, that Beningsen lost his 
popularity solely by being the first who introduced or revived 
among them the opposite system of undisguised retreat and de- 
fence, from which other Russian commanders have subsequently 
derived so much benefit. Suwarrow, aware of this partiality to 
offensive operations, managed always in such a way, that the 
soldiers under his command, though actually retiring, still im- 
agined themselves advancing ; and it was this that gave rise to 
the general notion, that the Russians did not know how to re- 
treat, when, in fact, they merely were not conscious, and were 
never told, that they were retreating. The military history of 
Suwarrow exhibits feats of activity and velocity altogether unex- 
ampled. His march of 70 miles with 7,000 infantry, in less 
than 18 hours, upon the river Rimnick, where he saved the 
Austrian army from certain destruction ; his march upon Trebia 
to intercept Macdonald in Italy, where the distance of three 
days was performed by him quicker than the distance of one 
<lay which the enemy had to go in order to form a junction 
with Moreau's army ; his passage over the Alps, over fright- 
ful precipices, and through narrow defiles, in face of the enemy 
well appointed, a passage which is to this moment considered 
as miraculous by the inhabitants themselves ; also prince Ba- 
gration's march at the commencement of the last campaign, 
when he went at the rate of 24 to 26 miles a day, for 20 days 
successively ; Oertil's expedition to Slutzk ; Tchernichew's 
expedition from the army of Moldavia to the Dwina ; and other 
instances mentioned in the text, have no parallels in ancient or 
modern history ; and the boasted French rapidity fades on 
comparison and sinks into nothing, or remains only as a me- 



2*2 REFLECTIONS ON 

5. Napoleon's fault, which may be said to have 
surpassed all the rest, is his inactivity during his stay at 

Kmento of the habitual injustice done to the Russian prowess, 
and of habitual partiality shown to the French. 

If facts require any proofs or argument, it is not difficult to 
establish this superiority in favour of the Russian soldier, by a 
just application of certain theoretical principles, founded upon 
his well known physical and moral qualities. Without going 
into any invidious comparisons, there are certain attributes in 
which he is decidedly superior to every other in the civilized 
world. 

His physical strength is greater than that of any other ; which 
is proved by measurement, and the resistless charge of his bay- 
onet. As to the first, it has been ascertained, while the Rus- 
sian troops were stationed in Guernsey and Jersey., that, owing 
to their broader shoulders and more muscular frames, 20 Russian 
•soldiers in a close line, invariably gained 2 feet in extent over 
20 English ; and with respect to the second, Sir R. Wilson, an 
eye witness of their prowess, admits expressly that no other 
soldier in the world, excepting fierhafis the British, can dis- 
pute the bayonet with the Russian ; which is an admission in 
toto, when it is considered that it comes from a British officer, 
with an exception so evidently feeble and reluctant. The very 
musket of the Russian soldier is heavier than that of any other, 
exclusively calculated for the bayonet charge, and wielded, by 
him only, without inconvenience to himself, and consequently, with 
the more, terrible effect on the enemy. 

The passive strength of the Russian soldier, that is, bodily 
endurance of hunger, fatigue, cold, and every privation imagin- 
able, is beyond example ; as are also his extreme subordi- 
nation, and perfect docility, which know no alternative but to 
obey or die, and which never suffer him to break out in such 
frightful disorder, as is exhibited in Lord Wellington's own offi- 
cial account of the state of his army when retreating from Bur- 
gos : an account which completely justified the old opin- 



THE WAR OF 1812. 23 

Moskow. As I know of no march in history superior, 
whether in skill, boldness, or advantage, to that which 
the Russian army performed from the Razian road upon 
Kaluga ; so I know of no greater fault in history than 
the strange inaction, in which Buonaparte all this time 
remained. 

6. Being conscious at length of the danger which 
threatened him on all sides at Moskow, he led back his 
troops by the same road they came ; an error the more 
inexcusable, as there was a parallel and safer road to the 
Dnieper and Beresina ; and as the object of preserving 
some scanty supplies, and a few feeble convoys and de- 
tachments on the old road, was nothing to the prospect 
of saving the remainder of his army, by changing the 
route, which it was in his power to do. 

7. Having gained time by a rapid flight, Napoleon 
ought not to have tarried at Smolensk ; for it was by 
this delay that he lost Davoust's and Ney's corps, which 
were defeated, and laid down their arms before the con- 
querors. *( 10) 

ion, that the English soldiers do well so long as they are fed 
well ; but cannot endure the most common privations without 
murmuring, and are exceedingly averse from fighting when, 
besides the enemy, they have also hunger to encounter. 

When to all these qualities, are added the peculiar habits of the 
Russian soldier, who, while yet a peasant, knows no other con- 
veyance or vehicle, but his own legs, on which, by preference, 
he traverses the vast Russian empire from one end to the oth- 
er, at the usual rate of between 40 and 50 versts (upwards of 3S 
miles) a day ; it cannot be doubted for a moment, that he can, 
and has actually furnished instances, similar to the above, of 
toil, activity, and rapidity, in which he stands alone. JV. by Ed.'j 

[* The author, by underrating the military talents of Buon- 
aparte, inadvertently reduces the merit of the Russians, and 



24 REFLECTIONS ON 

In short, Napoleon was totally ignorant of the true 
spirit of the Russian people, whom misfortunes could 

depreciates their successes. From his own account, however, 
it is evident that in every instance where Napoleon failed, it 
was not so much the consequence of his mistake, as of the su- 
perior valour and speed of the Russians. Sir R. Wilson, in 
blaming Buonaparte for not pursuing them after the' battle of 
Friedland, commits the same unintentional injustice towards 
the Russians, whose terrible resistance according to his own 
description, was the real and only cause why Buonaparte 
dared not, and indeed could not pursue them. As to Napoleon's 
inaction at Moskow, it is again n©t his fault, any more than his 
characteristic conduct; but the effect of imperious necessity, to 
which he was reduced by the skill and energy of the Russians. 
What could he do ? The small detachments, which he sent oub 
were cut off : and to move with his whole army in search of 
Kutuzow, was an endless task, as the Russian veteran, no 
longer compelled to any engagement to save a capital, would 
have unquestionably eluded every attempt to bring him to a bat- 
tle, or would have fought only when his success was certain. All 
then that Buonaparte could do was to retreat ; not doing which 
sooner was less an error than a necessary sacrifice to his 
pride, as by such a step he knew he was to relinquish his 
darling object, and to renounce at once all his ambitious proj- 
ects. After the battle of Luntzen, a masterpiece of military 
skill on his part, and after the repeated proofs, that the French 
are only successful when he is present ; . it is no longer pos- 
sible to doubt the superior talents of Buonaparte as a general ; 
and the author himself must by this time have retracted his 
opinion. It is evident, that Napoleon is the soul, the moving 
spring, and the sole directing principle of the French army ; 
and when once he has disappeared, it will be found that his 
officers are indebted to his genius for their reputation. With- 
out him they are a lifeless mass, trod upon almost by any adver- 
sary with perfect impunity. They are mostly common adven- 
turers, without education, illiterate in the extreme, desperately 



THE WAR OF 1812. 25 

only excite, but never subdue : neither did he calculate 
for a moment, what can be achieved by the loyalty and 
devotion of a people rendered desperate. The well 
known moderation and virtue of the Russian sovereign 
he mistook for fear and weakness : and imagined that 
the taking of Mqskow would plunge a dagger into the 
heart of the Russian empire, and lay it prostrate and 
palpitating at his feet, entreating peace and mercy. Fa- 
tally was he convinced of his mistake, when he perceiv- 
ed that the flames of this ancient city only kindled the 
correspondent flame of revenge in every Russian breast ; 
turned the meanest citizen into a hero ; and became at 
once the pledge of resistance, and the insuperable barri- 
er to every negociation. 

While this memorable war forms an important period 
in our history, and is glorious to our country, asitdisplays 
the heroic firmness of our government, the unexampled 

brave, and practical men ; therefore, notwithstanding their high 
sounding names, and the habitual veneration for every thing in the 
form of a French general, they are to the Russian, Austrian, and 
Prussian generals, what a raggamuffin is to a gentleman. The late 
events with regard to the Russians, have already proved,8c the events 
to come with regard to others, will further prove the truth of this 
assertion, bold and novel as it may appear. Buonaparte's life made 
his generals, and his death will unmake them ; -and it is to him 
alone (Moreau and a few others excepted) that France is indebt- 
ed for her present glory, so fatal to herself. Suwarrow, who 
considered Buonaparte as his only rival) ranked him among the 
first generals of antiquity ; and the opinion of such a man as 
Suwarrow, himself one of the number, ought to settle forever 
the question of Buonaparte's military talents. Note bij the Ed.~] 



26 REFLECTIONS &c. 

national love of the people, the skill and fortitude of our 
commanders, and the invincible courage of our troops ; 
it presents, on the other hand, a horrid picture of rage, 
impiety, crimes, and desolation, which has marked ev- 
ery step of the foe, as he fled, disgraced and discom- 
fited. Russians ! you have done enough for yourselves 
and your country ! The land of your fathers, the soil 
on which you were born and nursed, is again free by 
your unconquerable valour. The fire of your sacred 
enthusiasm, destructive only to the invader, purified it 
from all foreign pollution for the time present, and the 
days to come. You have rendered yourselves worthy 
of the ancient name of Sclavonians, worthy of Russia, 
your affectionate and tender mother ! She is satisfied ; 
and the Almighty, who smiled on your virtuous cause, 
smiles now in approbation of your energetic exertions. 
Gird then your sword once more about your loins ; and 
hasten to the defence and relief of others ! Extend the 
blessings of salvation to the unhappy, still groaning un- 
der the yoke, which your Herculean strength has 
thrown far from yourselves ! give Europe, give the 
world its liberty, independence, and tranquillity ! The 
gratitude of nations will be your gracious reward ; the 
praise and admiration of posterity will be your meed and 
crown ; a lasting peace will heal your wounds ; your 
unprincipled calumniators shall be confounded ; your re- 
vilers shall hang their heads in shame ; and the universe 
entire shall acknowledge that the ?nagnanimous Russian 
in prowess and generosity had no rival. 



THE AUTHOR'S NOTES. 



Note (l), page 6.- 

Russia, being the only empire whose integrity has not yet 
been violated, and whose resources remained yet unimpaired, 
Napoleon, who sensibly felt the necessity of supplying his exter- 
nal re-venue^ which had materially decreased, could not resist the 
temptation of invading her ; the more so, as he was willing to 
be tempted. 

By external revenue (Recettes exterieures) is meant money 
and other valuables, raised by contribution from the conquered 
states or cities ; the whole of which is exclusively appropriated 
to the use of Buonaparte. The minister of finances receives a 
part, only when public necessities imperiously demand such a 
sacrifice from Napoleon ; that is, when the yearly and regular 
revenue is diminished, and the expenses are increased, which 
for some time has been the case with France. 

This external revenue is independent of the merciless extor- 
tions practised by the French intendants, and other commanders 
of separate corps, stationed in conquered countries, in bread, 
provisions, forage, cloth, linen, leather, cattle, wine, waggons, 
and other necessaries for the army. Even the payment of 
troops in actual service, has often been withheld or delayed, in 
hopes that, at the conclusion of peace, the external revenue 
would replenish the treasury, unable, without this contingency, to 
pay the arrears due to the army.* 

* It is not to be disputed that the practice of levying contributions upon 
conquered countries has been general, and of ancient date ; but then, in 
former times, no additional plunder, and wanton, unceasing spoliations were 
allowed, after a contribution had been once raised ; no sacrilege, no viola- 
tion of private property was committed ; all trades and occupations were 
left unshackled ; each individual was undisturbed and protected in his par- 
ticular pursuits ; and the conquerors were willing to set certain limits to 



28 REFLECTIONS ON 

The political existence, and the military grandeur of Napo- 
leon are undoubtedly supported by this external revenue, with- 
out which France cannot sustain her present elevation, and must 
limit her armies to 300,000 men. This opinion is founded on the 
system of conscription, which has greatly reduced, and, if con- 
tinued, must soon exhaust the effective population of France ; on 
her loss of colonies ; on the decline of her trade ; and on the low 
state of her manufactures, which are deserted for want of workmen 
and raw materials. A total prostration of national industry, oc- 
casioned by ceaseless wars, which every year carry off more than 
200,000 youths, from the bosom of France ; by the cruelty with 
which conscriptions are enforced; and by the heavy pressure of fis- 
cal burthens, almost intolerable; is one of the blessed effects of Na- 
poleon's administration, so much extolled by his parasites and flat- 
terers. Unhappy France ! dearly hast thou paid for thy military 
glory, and the ambition of thy rulers ! 

In vain Napoleon and his ministers, in speeches and public ad- 
dresses, proclaim the increasing prosperity of France ; this trick 
is now too well known to succeed, even with the most credu- 
lous. In vain a superficial traveller, absorbed in his admiration 
of Paris, dreams of the correspondent wealth and power of the 
rest of France, and repeats on his return home, that Napoleon is 
invincible ; the strength, and the flourishing condition of a coun- 
try, are not to be judged by the exterior pomp, luxury, and dis- 

their own rule and right of keeping their armies at the expense of the con- 
quered. Even Frederick II who during the seven years' war recruited his 
armies with prisoners of war, did not escape the censure of his contempora- 
ries ; he could, however, plead in his extenuation, the extreme necessity to 
which he was reduced by the combined efforts of Russia, Austria, Sweden, 
and France, who had dispossessed him for a time of almost ail his heredita- 
ry states. 

What excuse can be found for Napoleon, who was never in the situation 
of the king of Prussia ? Is there an outrage of which suffering humanity 
cannot accuse him, and accuse him with justice ? Subjects seduced from 
their allegiance to their legitimate sovereign and native country ; prisoners 
of war forced to fight against their own countrymen ; wanton destruction of 
cities ; violation of God's altars ; pillage, rape, and murder, are but a pleas- 
ing diversion to this scourge and terror of mankind. 



THE WAR OF 1812. 2s 

sipation of a capital ; but depend on wise and salutary laws, on 
the fruitful pursuits of long uninterrupted peace, and on the love 
and attachment of the people to their government. 

.An impartial and experienced observer, in viewing the present 
state of France, the work of Buonaparte, will find poverty and 
misery brooding over ruined cities and deserted villages ; and 
fear and distrust deforming the once pleasing and cheerful coun- 
tenance of French peasantry, not permitted even to weep over 
their sufferings, but condemned to pine in solitude and silence ! 
He will every where shudder at the spirit of l'emorseless tyran- 
ny, breaking out in military trials and executions ; in barbarous 
conscriptions ; in dragging unfortunate parents, whose sons had 
absconded, to ignominious punishment ; and in constant wanton 
atrocities,and violations, multiplied without end, of individual liber- 
ty. From the obtruding scene of ruin, wherever he bends his steps, 
and even from the occasional confessions of those who adminis- 
ter the government, he will discover the constant and alarming 
diminution of yearly revenue, and the frightful increase of the 
yearly expenses of the empire. He will hear, even from the 
mouths of the ministers themselves, that, without external reve- 
nue, the state cannot any longer support its vast expenditure. 

All these facts and avowals lead to the conclusion, that Napo- 
leon, in order to meet the public expenses ; to feed the luxury 
which he despises, yet cherishes, for the sake of dazzling his con- 
temporaries, and blinding his own subjects, and to gratify the 
insatiable avarice and cupidity of his tools, creatures, and sup- 
porters ; is forced to keep up numerous forces, to seek new wars 
with his neighbours, and thus, with the contents of their coffers, 
replenish his .own treasury, and bring the wealth of other nations 
within the vortex which swallows all. His chiefs and soldiers 
hover over the booty like hungry vultures over a dead carcase ; 
or like voracious harpies, whose craving stomachs must be sup- 
plied, and who, having devoured their food, incesssntly shriek for 
more. 

When Napoleon placed the French and Italian crowns upon 
his head, it was in his power, by following the examples of Louis 
XII. and Henry VII., to become an illustrious monarch, and a 



30 REFLECTIONS ON 

father of his people : but the milk of human kindness was nau- 
seous to him, and he preferred to be the tyrant of France, and 
the assassin of Europe. Future events will shew, whether he 
was correct in his calculations ; and it is left to the impartial de- 
cision of history, whether he is to be blessed with Trajan, or ex- 
ecrated with Caligula. 

Note (2), fiage 6. 

That Napoleon is a bad statesman, and a poor politician, is 
abundantly proved by his attempt to conquer Spain, and his ob- 
stinate perseverance in that attempt.* 

During the period of fifteen years, France had so decided an 
influence over Spain, that the latter sacrificed to her by degrees 
her treasures, her industry, commerce, and fleets ; and the very 
conquest of this country, which appeared to Napoleon so easy, 
could not bring him more advantage, than what he had actually 
enjoyed by his previous alliance. A glance at this unjust war, 
begun and carried on in spite of common sense, and every sug- 
tion of sound reason, will further expose Napoleon's miserable 
policy. 

The rapid progress of the French armies in Spain, arose from 
the exuberant spirit of the inhabitants, who, breathing eager re- 
venge, forgot prudence and caution, and relied too much on their 
personal courage, and on the justice of their cause. The forces, 
which were opposed at first to those of France, were raised in 
haste, without the benefit of long discipline ; and they were of 
course defeated by an enemy superior both in number and expe- 
rience. These disasters, however, turned to instruction ; and 
the magnanimous Spaniard was taught at length to change his 
.mode of warfare, and to resolve on a struggle, which, though 

f* And also by his persecution of commerce, which is nothing less than an 
act of suicide upon his own prosperity. The author is perfectly correct in 
denouncing Napoleon as a statesman and politician : for, out of the field, he 
exhibits no solid talents whatever, and his art of governing is altogether 
limited by the system of espionage. His lute haughty conduct to Austria, 
like that of a conqueror, when she was, by her own avowal, inclined to 
yield to him as a friend, shews still farther, his, deficiency in sound pol- 
j cv< Note by the Editor.] 



THE WAR OF, 18 12. 31 

protracted, painful, and expensive, was yet sure of success. Ac- 
cordingly, all general and decisive engagements were carefully 
avoided, and a partizan-war was prosecuted instead; in which, by 
vigorous and divided activity, the enemy's line of operation was 
annoyed, his communication intercepted, his supplies cut off, his 
troops harassed by constant and fatiguing marches, and other 
important advantages were obtained over him at various times 
and various places. This plan, dictated by wisdom itself, created 
confidence and experience in the Spanish generals and soldiers '•> 
destroyed the enterprising spirit of the French, and struck a 
death-blow at the external revenue of Napoleon. In vain did 
the French armies, with sword unsheathed, traverse Spain from 
one extremity to the other, overwhelming towns and cities, and 
conquering whole provinces : the people were not subdued, but 
fought with fresh courage ; the government was not dismayed, 
and remained firm in the original resolution— to liberate the 
country, or be buried, under its ruins ! With such sentiments, 
the Spaniards cannot be conquered ! The justice of their 
cause, and the justice of God, who, sooner or later, fails not to 
punish an oppressor, must, and will finally be crowned with 
success. 

Note (o),fiage 6. 
Whoever has studied the character of Napoleon, will ea- 
sily believe, that national rivalship does not excite Buonaparte's 
hatred towards the English half so much as the unsparing satire 
which they have indulged against him, and which constantly brings 
his fancied heroic qualities to their true standard. During 
Lord Whitworth's stay at Paris, while negotiations for peace, 
were pending, Napoleon required from him as the first prelimi- 
nary step, an abolition, or, at least, abridgement of the freedom 
cf the press, particularly in relation to himself. How different is 
this conduct from that of Frederick the Great, who, seeing a 
crowd collecting to read a lampoon against him, which was stuck, 
up to a high post, ordered to have it lowered down, that it might, 
be read more easily ? A truly great man fears not such weak 
weapons. 



32 REFLECTIONS ON 

Note (4), page. 8. 
Undoubtedly, it is painful to every Russian to know, that? 
notwithstanding all the efforts to prevent the catastrophe, the an- 
cient capital of his country was in the hands of an enemy ; but be 
consoled, ye magnanimous inhabitants of Moskow ! The terri- 
ble battle of Borodino, and the unprecedented sacrifices you have 
made, have prepared and consummated the ruin of the foe, and 
have proved the salvation and glory of your beloved Russia 1 
Luxury unnerved Hannibal's troops at Capua ; privations have 
weakened those of Napoleon at Moskow ; and, in both cases, de- 
struction was the consequence. 

Note (5), page 9. 
By the intercepted letters of the enemy which I had the 
opportunity of perusing, it appears, that the French, in rendering 
justice to the courage of the Russians, could only wonder, with- 
out comprehending the motives of our retreat. A captain, 
however, of the artillery, in the corps of marshal Davoust, in a 
letter to his parents, has the following observation. " I am 
fearful, lest the Russians by their retreat, should play us the same 
trick which they played to Charles XII. in the last century." 

Note (6), page 11. 

The defensive war, waged by Lord Wellington in 1801, 
against Massena, one of Napoleon's best generals, is a striking 
parallel to the war of 1812. 

The English general, well knowing the forces of his adversa- 
ry, the spirit and the means of his government, judiciously 
adopted a system, which was calculated, without much hazard to 
himself, to destroy Napoleon's army, to draw his interior re- 
sources, and to put an end to all his hopes and expectations of 
external revenue from Portugal. Firm to this principle, Wel- 
lington disregarded all obstacles and difficulties arising from the 
very nature of a defensive war ; where every movement must be 
regulated by that of the enemy, ana where this apparent conces- 
sion of advantage, until the very moment of reaction and success, 



THE WAR CF 1812, 33 

jnust subject the commander in chief to many aspersions and 
ungenerous suspicions. 

A numerous French army made its way into Portugal ; but 
Wellington took betimes all such measures, as would make the 
successes of the enemy of a short duration, and even turn them 
to his own destruction. All the inhabitants of this kingdom, 
threatened with invasion, were ordered to remove their goods to 
places of safety; and mountains and forests became their refuge, 
where their stores, cattle, and other property were also secured. In 
other places the inhabitants were armed, and placed under the 
command of brave and experienced English and Portuguese offi- 
cers, whose duty it was, at the approach and entrance of the ene- 
my, to guard the defiles, to form ambuscades, to harass the ene- 
my's march, to hang on his rear, to destroy his magazines, to 
break down the bridges, to clog the roads, and do every possible 
mischief to him in detail. 

In the mean time,theEnglish commander,having commenced his 
i*etreat, made the enemy pay dearly for every inch of the ground 
he was suffered to gain ; and at length stopped at the position of 
Torres Vedras, which covered Lisbon ; while the French, 
who followed him, had to pass through an absolute wilderness. 
It was then, that Napoleon perceived for the first time, or ought 
to have perceived, that the great mystery of defence and resist- 
ance, which consummated the ruin of his army in 1812, was 
already known to the sagacious Wellington. 

The conquest of Portugal proved impossible ; and instead of 
the booty and treasures anticipated from the projected conquest, 
and meant to supply the external revenue, Napoleon found himself 
obliged to send money and ammunition from the interior of 
France, and stores and provisions for the troops, from the north 
of Spain, at the additional expense and incumbrance of large 
convoys, which were often cut off and captured by the detach- 
ments sent to intercept and annoy the whole French line of 
communication. In vain Massena had recourse to every expe- 
dient and device of military art, to force Wellington to a gene- 
ral battle ; the stubborn and intractable Englishman continued 
E 



34 REFLECTIONS ON 

fixed in his position, and was so sure of the result of his calcu« 
lations, that he almost predicted the time of the enemy's retro- 
grade movement. 

Thus the French campaign in Portugal, and the disastrous re- 
treat to Spain, pregnant with useful lessons, and, particularly 
the memorable campaign of 1812 in Russia, which reduced to 
certainty the means of combatting and crushing an enemy like 
Buonaparte, will remain splendid and instructive examples f 
remote futurity. 

Note (7), page 15. 

The word partizan is derived from the German fiarthey- 
gaenger, which means a commander of a small detachment, sep- 
arate from the army, and acting by itself. The employment of 
partizan corps was of great service to Maria Theresa, during 
her contests with numerous and powerful enemies ; even Fred- 
erick the Great found them exceedingly useful. 

A partizan detachment consists of light horse and chasseurs, 
for the most part adventurers. The chief of this detachment 
must naturally be a brave, courageous, active, and enterprising 
man, well instructed in the general principles of the military 
art ; as otherwise he would be incapable to render the army any 
important and essential services. From the nature of the service 
expected from him, he can have no adequate instructions from 
the commander in chief, unless his operations are limited to the 
flanks or wings of the main army ; he must, therefore, in every 
contingency, rely on his own sagacity and resources, when sepa- 
rated from the army. He must regulate his conduct by the 
number and quality of troops under his command, the facility 
or difficulty of communicating with the army, the opposing force 
of the enemy, time and opportunity for attack, the geographical 
situation of the country, and the spirit and disposition of the in- 
habitants, among whom he is destined to act. In his own coun- 
try, he has of course less obstacles to encounter ; but in that of 
an enemy he has need of all his caution, prudence, and circum- 
spection, in the employment of spies, and the choice of guides, 
for which purpose, money, promises, and threats must be alter- 
nately used. He is above all to remember, that the duty assign- 



THE WAR OF 1812, Stf 

ed him, is to render every possible harm to the enemy ; and 
that the capture of one important personage, the seizure of a 
courier with important dispatches, the destruction of transports 
and magazines, will often render more service to the army and 
to the country at large, than the killing or taking of thousands in 
the field, during a protracted campaign ! 

In his various expeditions, the partizan chief must be careful 
to lodge his troops during the hours of repose, whether by day 
or night, in uninhabited places, the least liable to surprize ; and 
in case any events should compel him to remain in populous 
places, he must endeavour, by all means and possible efforts, to 
keep himself concealed from the enemy. Except in absolute 
necessity, he must never remain long on any particular spot ; but 
change it as often as possible, and as the case will admit. If his 
movements should at length be discovered, he must deceive the 
enemy by false reports and feigned movements, to countenance 
which, he must take circuitous routes, and perform circuitous 
marches. In short, a skilful partizan chief never lets the ene- 
my see him ; and the blow he strikes is the first and only intelli- 
gence he gives of himself. 

When, at too great distance from the army, he finds himself 
deprived of all succour and maintenance, he must shift for him- 
self, and procure his own supplies with as little violence as pos- 
sible. In his own, or a friendly country, he has only to exercise 
steadiness and perseverance, and take provisions where he can, 
by giving the inhabitants due receipts, which would enable them 
to obtain compensation from another quarter : but, if he wishes 
to avoid being confounded with robbers and plunderers, he must 
carefully abstain from every unnecessary violence and extortion : 
especially, as it is by the incursions and depredations of small 
detachments, that a country suffers far more than by the pas- 
sage of whole corps and regular bodies ; and as such a conduct 
would be highly prejudicial to his own interests, by provoking 
the hostility of the inhabitants, and by compelling him constantly 
to extort by force of arms, what otherwise they might 
give up from good will and friendship. Finally, the partizan 
leader must observe strict justice and undeviating impartiality 



36 REFLECTIONS ON 

in the division of spoils between his men ; it being the surest 
and most efficacious means of rendering them faithful, bold, en- 
terprizing, and every way qualified for the tyoils imposed upon 
thtm. 

Mote (8),/iage 16. 

Caesar, Peter the Great, Frederick, who originated new 
principles of war ; Turenne, Montecuculi, and other generals 
who had rivals worthy of them ; Romantzoff, and Suwarrow, 
whose names are consecrated to immortality ; Moreau, whose 
campaign and retreat placed him in the highest temple of fame, 
were all great generals, and will remain as illustrious models 
for future captains ; but Napoleon, for his most important suc- 
cesses, was indebted to the weakness and errors of his oppo- 
nents, and to the overwhelming superiority of numbers which he 
has uniformly brought with him into the field. His rapid con- 
quest of Italy in 1796, was achieved in consequence of the rule 
of too much distributing or extending the forces, in which rule 
his adversaries unfortunately persevered * 

At Marengo, Napoleon lost his wits, but the firmness of cour- 
age, and the presence of mind, displayed by Dessaix, wrested 
the victory from the hands of Melas. The ca/iit lation of ULm 
was the consequence of Mack's folly and incapacity, not to>say 
treachery ; as during the two days of sanguinary contest, also in 
the battles that preceded them, as well as under the gallant con- 
duct of prince Ferdinand, the Austrian army had done all that 
Europe could expect from its skill and courage : it fell a sac- 
rifice to the unpardonable mistakes of its commanders. Brave 
Prussians ! you have incurred no reproach and no disgrace ; 
and it is for the duke of Brunswick to account to posterity for 
your premature defeat at Jena ! And you, magnanimous 
Russians 1 if the enemy's superior numbers compelled you to re- 
sign the field at Austerlitz and Friedland ; you have since no- 
bly and tenfold atoned for the misfortunes of those inauspicious 

[* And also to the spirit of the inhabitants, who were tainted with the 
revolutionary principles of France, and hailed her legions as their friends 
and deliverers. Note bv the JEd-~\ 



THE AVAR OF 1812. 37 

days ! People of Germany ! it is now your turn to prove to the 
world that you are the same Germans, who made the Romans 
and Gauls tremble at the mention of your name ! Independ- 
ence, or the permanence of an ignominious yoke, depends now 
upon your will and choice ! 

Note (9),fiage 18. 

Napoleon's hirelings and orators have proclaimed to the 
world, that his beneficent genius labours only for the welfare 
of Europe, and her commercial firojierty to be secured by the 
freedom of the seas ; but, though many were willing to believe 
this rhapsody, painful facts have since stripped it even of its 
gorgeousness. His grasping and insatiable ambition disdained 
even the impervious mantle of crafty policy, which might effec- 
tually conceal his views ; but wore only a slender veil, through 
which a superficial observer easily read his marked designs to 
chain the whole continent to his own arbitrary will ; to crown 
himself at Constantinople ; to sink Great Britain into the gulf 
of perdition ; to destroy the present (hateful to him because 
free) government of the United States, by forcing them to 
accept a ruler fashioned by his own hands ; and then reign 
lord paramount with the whole world at his feet, trampled upon, 
or scourged, as the riotous excesses of his tyranny might dictate. 

Napoleon is less to be dreaded in war, than in peace. His 
pen is even more fatal to the nations in alliance with him, than 
his sword ; and his friendship is a lingering death. The mo- 
ment of his hypocritical embrace is the unequivocal commence- 
ment of servitude ; for it is then, that materials for chains and 
every other restraint of bondage, are put to the forge, in the se- 
cret recesses of his cabinet. Discord, which he ably discrimi- 
nates, and corruption, which he artfully administers, always 
precede his attack upon a deluded nation ; which is only unde- 
ceived, when he, thinking her sufficiently seasoned for an easy 
prey, compels her to take arms in fruitless defence, and thus, by 
a most hellish policy, he avoids the appearance of being the ag- 
gressor, and secures to himself, beforehand, all the advantages 
of a conqueror. Russia alone, of all the continental powers, has 



33 REFLECTIONS, &c. 

eluded this snare, though spread with more than usual skill and 
care. To lull asleep, and to threaten by turns, are the means 
which Napoleon, from his immense command of force, has hith- 
erto successfully employed with those, whom he designed for 
his next victims. 

Note (\0),flage 23. 

As the faults committed by Napoleon during the last cam- 
paign of 1812, are equal in number to the cardinal sins, the fol- 
lowing sentiment of Baptiste Rousseau may be justly applied to 
him, though falling short of his due. 

" When misfortunes come, the mask falls off, the hero disap- 
pears, and a mortal remains instead." 



TABLE I. 

DIVISION AND ENUMERATION OF THE ACTUAL FORCES, WITH 
WHICH NAPOLEON PASSED INTO THE RUSSIAN TERRITORY. 



Napoleon, commander in chief. 
Marshal Berthier, chief of the staff. 

1st CORPS. 

No. of Men and 
Cannon. 

Marshal Davoust ..,...,. 

1st division of Infantry, general Morand . . 13,028 

2d „ „ Friand . . 13,260 

3d „ „ Goudain . 12,092 

4th „ „ Dessaix . 11,138 

5th „ „ Campan . 15,521 

The Cavalry, under Patol and Bordeseul . 3,648 

Artillery . . 5,400 

Total, 74,087 

Cannon, 240 

2nd CORPS. 

Marshal Oudinot . . , ... . . . 

1st division of Infantry, general Legrand . 10,208 

2d „ „ Verdier . 12,371 

3d „ „ Beliar . 10,006 

Cavalry, generals Castex and Corbinau . . 2,538 

Artillery 2,944 

Total 38,067 

Cannon 114 



4d reflections on 

3d CORPS. 

-. , f , t, . No. of Men and 

Marshal J\Cy Cannon. 

1st division of Infantry, general Ledruex . . 13,360 

2d „ „ Rctzou . . 13,909 

3d, Wirtemberghers, the Hereditary Prince . 8,000 

Cavalry, generals Mourier and Bey man • . 5,800 

Artillery . 1,500 

Total 42,569 

Cannon 60 

4th CORPS. 

The Viceroy of Italy (Eugene) .... 
Generals of division, Elrone, Brousier, and Pino 

Infantry Italian guards 4,070 

Frenchmen 22,252 

Italians 16,084 

Two Dalmatian regiments 5,004 

Cavalry . 5,050 

Artillery . 2,540 

Total 55,000 

Cannon 100 

5th CORPS. 

Prince Poniatowsky 

Polish troops (from the dukedom of War- 
saw) under Dumbrowsky, Zaiontzik, 
and other generals, in four divisions 

of infantry 43,160 

Cavalry, general Rojnetsky 8,960 

Artillery 3,500 

Total 55,620 

Cannon 1x40 






THE WAR d£ 1812. 44 

6th CORPS. 

Marshal Gouvion St. Cyr * ... * 

1st division of Bavarian infantry, general Deroi 11,907 

2d „ „ Wrede 13,751 

Cavalry, generals Seydevitz- and Prey sing . , 3,120 

Artillery ..,,.*,...„, 1,222 



Total 30,000 

Cannon 50 

7th CORPS, 

General Reignief , *..,... 

1st division Saxon infantry, general Lequoque 11,070 



2d ,„ „ Tzetau 


13,170 


Cavalry, general Founk . . . . . t 


* 4,760 


Artillery . . . „ ....*..„ 


f 1,000 


Total 


30,000 


Cannofi 


40 


8th CORPS. 




The King of Westphalia (Jerome Buona- 




parte,) under him Marshal Junot 




Two Westphalian divisions of infantry, un- 




der generals Ochsa and Darou . . . 


25,766 




3,350 


Artillery . ..„...«.,. . * 


884- 


Total 


30,000 


Cannon 


40 



F 



42 REFLECTIONS ON 

9th CORPS. 

Marshal Victor . . 

Infantry, consisting of French troops, and 
the contingents of the Rhenish con- 
federation ...,►*.,. r 40,40© 

Cavalry . . . . . 3,000- 

Artillery 1,600 

Total 45,000 

Cannon 70 

10th CORPS. 

Marshal Macdonald . . . ...» 

Infantry consisting of Frenchmen, Prus- 
sians, and part of the Rhenish contin- 
gents, under the generals Grandjean, 

Yorke, and Kleist . 49,000 

Cavalry, general Massenbach . . . . . . 3,600 

Artillery ............ 2,400 

Total 55,000 

Cannon 100 

THE GUARDS. 

Commanded by marshals BessierSjMoncez/, 

Mortier, and Lefebre 

Infantry, in four divisions ...... 32,278 

Cavalry ....«.....•• 5,073 

Gens d'armes -......»..• 532 

Artillery . ........... 5,723 

Total 43,606 

Cannon 150 



THEWAR0F181& 4S 

45RAND RESERVE OF CAVALRY, COMMANDED BY THE |KING 
OF NAPLES, (MURAT.) 

1st CORPS. 

1st division, general Bruyere ...... 4,243 

2d „ „ St. Germain .... 3,250 

3d w „ Valence ...... 2,902 

Total, 10,395 

2d CORPS. 

General Montbrun . 

1st division, general Valtier . . . . . . 3,921 

2d „ Sebastiani .... 2,581 

3d „ jLefranc . . ... 2,453 

Total 8,955 

3d CORPS. 

General Latour Moburg . . . « „ , 

1st division, general Kellerman ..... 2,269 

2d „ j, St. Omer ..... ^,083 

3d 3 , „ Lagusjer .... . 2,398 

Total 6,750 

Total of the reserye 26*100 

AUSTRIAN CORPS. 

Under Prince Schwartzenburg . . . , 
This corps, consisting of three divisions, 

was commanded by generals Zigental, 

Troutenberg, and Fantieltpn « - . 



44 REFLECTIONS ON 

Infantry 23,500 

Cavalry 4,500 

Artillery . * .-. 2,000 

Total 30,000 

90 



s 



Infantry 
Cavalry 
Artillery 



RECAPITULATION. 

Men. 

- - 444,305 

r - - 80,031 

, * - 30,713 



Cannon. Ammunition 
Waggon? „ 



People belonging to the suite 
of Napoleon, and the differ- 
ent kings, marshals, and gen- 
erals ; also pioneers, mi- 
ners, persons in the general 
and other staffs ; quarter- 
masters, commissaries, doc- 
tors, apothecaries, drivers, 
stone-masons, bakers, inva« 
lids, and servants - - 20,451 



The grand total 



575,500 1,194. 2,768 



THE WAR OF 1812. 
OK, 

1st corps 34,087) 

2d „ 38,067 £ 154,723 

3d „ ------ 42,569) 

4th „ 55,000) 

5th „ 55,620 C 140,620 

6th „ 30,000 ) 

7th - . „ - . _ 30,000) 

8th .„ 30,000 £ 105,000 

9th „ 45,000) 

10th . » - 55,000 7 

The guards - - - - P 43,606 5 yo ^o 

1st corps of reserve, cavalry 10,395 ) 

2d „ „ . 8,955 V 26,100 

3d „ „ 6,750) 

Austrian corps - - - - 30,000 30,000 



555,049 
Napoleon's suite, &c. &c 20,451 



The grand total - - . - . „ . 575,500 



[This force, far greater than was generally believed, explains 
at once, why the Russian armies appeared, for some time, so un- 
equal in number as to induce the Quarterly Reviewers to dis- 
credit the statement of the Russian regular force, contained in 
the « Resources- of Russia ;" it is therefore just that the correct- 
ness of this statement should be now rescued from all doubt and 
suspicion . 

While it is also considered that many high officers of the 
French staff, with all their papers and documents, fell into the 
power of the Russians, the general accuracy of information 
leading to the above prodigious amount, will not be questioned. 

a: *.] 



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54 REFLECTIONS ON 



EEMMl&'S 

BY THE AUTHOR. 

It being now ascertained, that, out of the whole force 
which had invaded Russia, only 45,000 Austrians and 
Prussians with 150 pieces of cannon, and 15,000 
Frenchmen, Bavarians, and Rhenish troops, escaped be- 
yond the Vistula ; it follows of course, that the enemy 
lost a prodigious number by other causes, the general 
and active hostility of the inhabitants, disease, famine, 
and cold : the two last in particular, as the prisoners 
often perished on the roads, while conducted to places 
of relief and safety, for want of shelter in villages which 
the rage of the enemy, on his retreat, had laid in ashes. 
Several pieces of cannon were sunk in the rivers, or 
buried in the ground, some of which have already been 
recovered. Caissons and waggons of every description, 
which escaped the pursuers, were destroyed by the 
hands of the enemy. 



THE WAR OF 1812. 



Note hy the Editor. 

In the sketch of the campaign, attached to the second 
edition of the " Resources of Russia," the whole rem- 
nant of fugitives, after deducting the Austrian and 
Prussian corps, is supposed to have been between 13 
and 15,000 men, which, as it now turns out, is nearly 
the fact itself. Indeed, the whole calculation there 
of the French losses, allowing something for conjecture, 
and the original difference in stating the amount of the 
invading force, will be found as correct as the circum- 
stances of the case would admit. It is evident, besides, 
that in the table of losses, a very important battle, by 
an oversight of the Russian printer, has been omitted : 
the same which was fought at the village of Milrovisky, 
somewhere near the Nara, between Beningsen and Mu- 
rat, and which Mr. Harper, in his able speech, has also 
overlooked, in passing to the battle of Maloyaroslavetz. 
This last took place between 23 and 24 cf October (N. 
S.) x ; but the former happened on the 18th preceding, 
and was the immediate cause of Buonaparte's quitting 
Moskow with such precipitation as to abandon to the 
Russians 58 officers ; 1,806 rank and file ; 42 pieces of 
cannon, and 237 caissons, or ammunition wagons. The 
fruits of the battle, which is acknowledged in the 26th 
Bulletin, almost to its real extent, were 1 stand of col- 
ours ; 38 pieces of cannon ; great quantity of ammuni- 
tion and other stores ; Murat's equipage ; the officers" 
baggage; 2,000 killed ; 12 staff officers; and 1,100 



56 



REFLECTIONS ON 



rank and file prisoners ; so that with the addition of this 
battle, the whole amount will stand thus. 



The grand total,with 
the addition of the 
battle of Milrovi- 
sky 

Add killed and pris- 
oners together 

Austrian and Prus- 
sian corps, which 
escaped with 150 
cannon 

Frenchmen, Bavari 
ans, Sec. Sec. that 
escaped 



The number des 
troyed by the in- 
habitants, disease, 
famine, and cold 

Cannon sunk, and 
waggons destroy- 
ed by the enemy 

The whole amount 
of theFrench force, 
as per Table No. I 



KILLED! PRISONERS. tSTANDARDS&c 



U.-. en- 
terals 



135,835 



351,596 

45,000 
15,000 



411,596 



163,904 



5 75,500 



49 



Sttf & I Rank & |Sta. 
In Of. File. 



Can- I Cais- 
non. sons. 



4,082 



211,630 



76 



1,027 



150 



1,846 



922 



i l£4 2,768 



The attentive inspection of the preceding tables, 
founded altogether upon official documents, enables us 
to judge not only of the precise loss by other causes be- 
sides the sword, but of the uniform skill, persevering 
courage, and striking activity of the Russian officers and 
soldiers. It brings us every where upon the visible 
traces of that superior and all combining mind which 
directed the whole ; and of which the injustice of some 



THE WAR OF IS 12. sj 

foreigners, levelled more or less against every thing Rus- 
sian, has attempted to rob the venerable Xutuzow. It 
also furnishes a complete refutation to the assertions of 
the same systematic revilers, that Napoleon's defeat was 
caused by the " frightful climate" of Russia ; for, in- 
dependently of the testimony of the French bulle- 
tins themselves, which announce " fine weather," 
as late as the beginning of November, preceded by 
the complete rout and disasters of the French, it is 
now clear, that even before their retreat from Moskow 
they had already lost 61,620 killed ; 6 generals, 865 of- 
ficers, and 41,016 rank and file, prisoners ; 10 stan- 
dards ; 103 pieces of cannon ; and 415 caissons or am- 
munition waggons : a loss which the apologists of Na- 
poleon will find extremely difficult to reconcile with 
his pretensions to victory, or with their own support 
of those pretensions upon the alleged influence of the 
climate. 



a 



STRICTURES 



« CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 



HAVING performed the pleasing task of presenting 
the public with details so far interesting, as they set 
at rest the ingenuity of conjecture and speculation con- 
cerning the French losses ; I now entreat the courteous 
reader to grant me a moment's patience and attention, 
while I proceed to make a few remarks, on the extraor- 
dinary " correspondence respecting Russia," which was 
published in Philadelphia, but had not reached me, until 
the foregoing sheets were sent to the press. 

I confess, I enter upon this new task, which is the re- 
verse of the preceding, with great hesitation and painful 
reluctance ; for, as I could not feel any satisfaction in 
differing from Mr, Walsh in matters of mere opinion, 
my regret must be the keener at being compelled (he 
left me no other alternative) not only to contradict him 
in matters of fact, but to call either his judgment, or his 
candour, into question. 

In spite of this gentleman's prejudice against the 
Russians, of the existence of which I was well in- 
formed, though not of its unwarrantable extent and 
bitterness, I still admired him as a writer, wished to 
honour him as a man, and was even proud of 
my sentiments towards him, the uniform expression of 



#> STRICTURES ON THE 

which is well known to most of my friends ; it may, 
therefore, be easily conceived, with what grief and dis- 
appointment I must rank him now among the de- 
clared enemies of Russia, instead of finding in him, as 
I still hoped, a defender at least of her moral character. 
Little did I suspect, while writing some of the foregoing 
notes, that I was then anticipating his own unprovoked 
attack upon my country ; or that I should have to en- 
counter, concentrated within himself, all the three 
classess of which I complained — -all that persecuting 
and unsparing spirit of Dr. Clarke and the Edinburgh 
Reviewers, which, boundless in its range, and scarcely 
to be compressed within a giant's frame, has, neverthe- 
less, infused itself entire, into a form, where the presiding 
mind seemed already large enough to exclude such ig- 
noble and overwhelming admixture. 

I am sensible of all the means of superiority which 
Mr. Walsh may justly think himself to possess over 
me, in this or any other contest. Besides his enjoying 
the high reputation of talent, living in the bosom of his 
country, and being cherished and supported by his nu- 
merous friends — advantages of which I am deprived — 
he has also the popular side of the question, by addres- 
sing himself to that common human propensity, which 
listens more to the censure than the praise of others : I, 
on the contrary, in addition to my privations in other 
respects, must stand in opposition to this strong propen- 
sity, and, what is still worse, combat certain and obvious 
suspicions arising from my supposed national partiality. 
What he says, will be believed until the facts have dispro- 
ved it ; what I say, may not be believed until the facts 
have proved it, which is a very severe test : nay, 
past experience makes me fear, that he may be credited, 
and myself doubted, even after the facts have impaired 
his statements, and strengthened mine. Thus, the coop- 
eration of truth itself does not give me great hopes of 
success, for he may reason truth away, with more abili- 
ty than I can state it ; besides, if truth always prevailed, 
neither Dr, Clarke's outrage upon the Russian charac- 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 6,1 

ter, nor Buonaparte's disastrous triumphs over so many 
nations, would have ever appeared, or been known. 

Such has been the novel state of Russia, and her recent 
station among the nations of the earth; such her remote- 
ness from the events passing in Europe, and the conse- 
quent ascendancy of foreigners in misrepresenting her, 
partly through their own usurpation, and partly through 
her misplaced reliance upon their justice ; such her ha- 
bitual repugnance to blazon forth her own deeds, under 
the delusion that they would be suifered to speak for 
themselves — whereas others, particularly the French, 
have gained as much by the pompous description, as by 
the actual extent, of their achievements ; — that the task 
of a Russian, who dares now to wield the pen in her de- 
fence, is exceedingly harassing, arduous, and almost 
hopeless. Every action of hers, from her very lo- 
cality, has to pass through so many officious hands, that 
it becomes quite altered on reaching its farthest destina- 
tion. First, the Germans take it up, and give it a dif- 
ferent shape ; then the French dress it in a new fantastic 
suit of their own ; and, lastly, such men as the Edin- 
burgh Reviewers change its whole form, and reverse its 
very nature and character : so that the Russian has to 
clean the Augean stables before he can get at the gem 
of truth ; and, when bis labour is finished, it is ten to 
one but his veracity is suspected, his national preju- 
dices extended beyond all reasonable measure, and his 
authority rejected, because, as a Russian, he is denied 
the privilege of knowing his country so well as transient 
foreigners and passing strangers ! ! 

It is therefore a sense of duty only to myself and my 
country, that compels me to come forward on the pres- 
ent occasion ; and assures me that, though I may be 
overpowered, I shall not be conquered. 

Mr, Walsh's first letter is already so ably answered, 
that it is not in my power to do more, than merely to 
touch upon such points as Mr. Harper, from motives 
of delicacy, seems to have conceded or omitted to ex- 
plain. I shall consequently notice the first observation 



62 STRICTURES ON THE 

upon the military merits of the Russians, thus specious- 
ly conveyed. " Perhaps you allow them (the Russians) 
credit for more than they possess, and ascribe to Kutu- 
zowa more sagacious and provident plan than was actu- 
ally devised'." Page 29. 

If, after the surprising and unprecedented events of the 
last campaign, any unprejudiced reader can question 
the military merits of the Russians, or assert, in com- 
plaisance to Mr. Walsh's arbitrary opinion, that the 
plan, actually executed, was or could have been less 
" sagacious and provident" than it appeared ; Mr. 
Walsh possesses more influence over the minds of others 
than has ever yet fallen to the lot of man ; an influence 
which has enabled him to reverse the course of nature, 
by placing effects in opposition to their causes, and by 
destroying facts by their own evidence. Where and 
how this; plan may have been " less sagacious and prov- 
ident," while its execution was so perfect and pregnant 
with disasters to the enemy, cannot be easily compre- 
hended, unless it may have owed its success altogeth- 
er to a want of talents in the invader ; a supposition 
against which Mr. Walsh rises with all his might and 
strength, and thus involves himself in self-contradiction, 
the more glaring, as, by detracting from the abilities of 
the venerable Kutuzow, he reduces to a lower standard 
what he himself labours to raise, the military reputation 
of Buonaparte. Mr. Walsh must surely fancy himself 
more than a god, when, in a moment of displeasure, he 
attempts,* by a mere loose suggestion, or a whim ofspec- 

* Whether Mr. Walsh is conscious or not of his having at- 
tempted beyond his strength, time will soon discover ; in the 
mean while I may be allowed to express my full and strong con- 
viction of the superior talents of the Russian veteran. Deeply 
and sincerely as I do deplore the loss of Moreau, I do not think 
it near so great a misfortune as the death of Kutuzow ; for, had 
this old and great man lived, it is more than probable the battles 
of Luntzen and Bautzen would never have taken place, and 
Buonaparte would never have been permitted to recover breath, 
and collect an army strong enough to check in the first instance 
the victorious career of the allies. This opinion is strongly 
supported by the coincidence,!!) point of time,of Kutuzow's illness. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 63 

ulation, to force back the events actually consummated 
to their original nothingness ; and when, from a sudden 
undefined impulse, he sets up a most novel and extraor- 
dinary theory, that a man able to command 400,000 
men in the field, and to conquer an enemy like Buona- 
parte — to oppose whom, inferring from Mr. Walsh's 
own encomium, every step taken, or every measure de- 
vised, must be a vast plan in itself — that a man, who had 
done all this, was incapable of forming a "sagacious and 
provident plan," such as it appeared at the time of its 
execution, or rather such as could only be known and 
judged by its apparent execution. As Mr. Walsh has 
assigned no reason for questioning the merits of Kutu- 
zow, having probably no good reason to assign, it de- 
volves on me to explain the probable motive, 
which betrayed him into a situation so deficient in 
good reasons. I am credibly informed, and can 
partly prove it by his own conversation with me, 
that it was he who proclaimed Lord Wellington to have 
been the original adviser and projector of the Russian 
campaign, and thus pledged himself to the support of a 
declaration, which he had not the magnanimity to retract, 
and which, I understand, is founded upon the authority 
of a certain Frenchman in London. Having already 
noticed this in a preceding note, I have only to observe, 
that a Frenchman at this period is not likely to be in the 
confidence either of the Russian or English govern- 
ment ; and though Mr. Walsh may conceive it right to 
reject the common sense of every Russian, I cannot yet 
think so ill of him, as that he would countenance every 
absurdity, because uttered by a Frenchman. 

with the relaxation which first began to shew itself in the pur- 
suit, till then rapid, of the dispersed enemy ; be this as it may, 
one thing is certain, his age and experience were so high raised 
above all envy and competition, that all the allied generals 
would have submitted to his command without murmur and hes- 
itation ; and Napoleon would no longer be able to balance the 
advantages of the allies, superior in all other respects, only by 
the unity of his operations, and by opposing his force with one 
head to theirs with many. 



&4 STRICTURES ON THfe 

Mr. Walsh proceeds to caution Mr. Harper against 
" too lofty an idea of the general worth of the Russians,*' 
whose " even military virtues do not shine with so 
much genuine lustre ;" and by way of proof, adds : 
" There is no government or people, or. record, whose 
history is more atrocious in almost every stage. It is 
particularly, until the commencement of the last centu- 
ry, one shocking tissue of cruelty, perfidy, ruthless ven. 
geance, and insatiable ambition." Page 30. 

If Mr. Walsh was apprehensive that Mr. Harper's fa- 
vourable opinion of the Russians would make their worth 
too current in America, his fears were premature and ill- 
founded ; for the majority of the people, if one can 
judge from certain prints attached to the majority, are 
yet far from being too friendly to the Russians ; and he 
had no occasion to apply a remedy where the evil he 
apprehended was so distant and improbable. Besides, I 
see no evil in a friendly approximation to a power which 
has treated the Americans with uniform respect and jus- 
tice, and which never can be dangerous to their national 
interests. 

The word genuine, in the second sentence, if it has 
any meaning at all, must refer to what was already men- 
tioned and answered, respecting the report propagated by 
Mr. Walsh, that the Russians were not indebted to 
themselves for their plan of defence ; if so, Mr. Walsh 
will oblige the public by explaining — now that Bening- 
sen is proved to have been Beningsen, and not Moreau — 
who it was that planned the campaign of 1806 and 1807, 
and showed the Russians how to fight the battles of 
Pultusk and Eylau, when Lord Wellington was not 
even known to them, and Bernadotte known only as an 
enemy whom they had beaten. Mr. Walsh will also 
confer a great favour on the learned world, by discover- 
ing the mysterious process by which he can convert the 
past into the present ; and like a mighty magician,, 
recal in an instant the shadows long gone by, to mar 
the reign of brightness which has succeeded them, 



•CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 6S 

The political birth of the Russians is scarcely a cen- 
tury old ; consequently to condemn them for what they 
were before that time, is quite as reasonable as to con- 
demn a man for his infantile ignorance, for his inert 
state while yet in the mother's womb, or for the crimes 
of his relations who died a hundred years ago. How 
this last part of the doctrine may be relished by some of 
Mr. Walsh's southern friends, it is not for me to in- 
quire ; but, if the whole is to be admitted, there is at pre- 
sent no nation on earth that possesses either virtue or tal- 
ent ; for, the history of each, preceding the respective era 
of civilization, is the history of Russia during the same 
state, with this difference that the historical character 
of other nations, notwithstanding Mr, Walsh's confident 
declaration to the contrary, bears stronger and far more 
disgusting features of wickedness and atrocity : nay, 
the French revolution, of so modern a date, and in a na- 
tion which pretends to the highest refinement, exhibits 
a greater mass of crimes, and loathsome depravity, than 
the whole ancient or modern history of Russia, Indeed* 
Mr. Walsh seems to have been sensible of this applica- 
tion, and therefore artfully evades it by insinuating, that 
the French revolution was the result of too great a civili- 
zation ; as if it were of any consequence in the general 
estimate of national crimes, produced as the criterion of 
national character, whether they proceeded from one ex- 
treme or the other. Determined, however, that Russia 
should gain nothing by comparison, or distinction be- 
tween the excess of barbarism, and that of civilization, 
in relation to other nations, or to her own present 
state ; he breaks asunder every intermediate link of 
virtue, and at once pronounces her to be a mere com- 
pound of two extremes, " uniting the worst vices of 
barbarism and superlative corruption of civilization ! ! !" 
This is a copy, improved upon the great original of Dr. 
Clarke. 

If Mr. Walsh's pretensions to the knowledge of Russia 
were well founded ; or if his discernment had been 
I 



6ti STRICTURES ON THE 

more on the alert, and his judgment not hoodwinked 
by prepossessions unworthy of him ; he would have 
discovered that, in three disinct points,.her history is a 
remarkable exception to the rest of Europe, and highly 
creditable to the government and people, namely : there 
were no religious persecutions in Russia ; no innocent 
queens immolated to the lawless lust of their royal hus- 
bands ; and no usurpers tolerated, as all such who ir- 
regularly aspired to the crown, or had actually seized it, 
did so either in virtue of near relationship to the czarish 
line ; or under the assumed name of some deceased 
legitimate prince : the latter were hurled down from 
their unlawful eminence, as soon as their imposture 
was discovered. This last trait, which so strikingly 
displays the pride and independence of the Russian peo- 
ple, never submitting to be governed by strangers and 
upstarts, known to be such, destroys, beforehand, the 
virulence of the epithet " slavish," which Mr. Walsh 
will be shewn to have applied to them ; and though the 
two Catherines might be produced as exceptions, in 
what relates to strangers, it ought to be understood 
that foreign princesses, by a legal solemnization of mar- 
riage with the czars, and the adoption of the established 
Greek religion, are divested of the character of stran- 
gers, and admitted to all the rights and privileges of 
native royalty. 

Granting, however, for a moment, and for argument's 
sake, that the Russian history is preeminent in barbari- 
ty ; that the Russians, by an anomalous subversion of 
the rules of reasoning, must be judged by what they 
were, not by what they are ; and that the supposition of 
what may have been, must triumph over what is known 
to be ; the inference which Mr. -Walsh thence endeav- 
ours to draw against their military virtues, the chief of 
which is valour, remains still as incorrect, as the argu- 
ment itself is lame and impotent ; for it is well ascer- 
tained, that the barbarous state of a nation has generally 
been the most favourable to those stern virtues which 
are necessary to form a warrior. The fall of the Roman 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 67 

empire, no less from the superior prowess of the barba- 
rian, than from interior causes of decline, renders every 
other proof superfluous ; and though some allowance 
will be demanded for the present system of warfare, be- 
ing no longer founded exclusively upon the physical 
force of man, so much of this force yet enters into the 
modern system, as to make it a self evident truth, that 
the Roman warrior, of the early and most barbarous 
period, would be the better soldier in the present armies 
of Europe. Perhaps Mr. Walsh thinks otherwise ; if 
so, it is 4'or him to declare the grounds on which he dif- 
fers from an opinion so generally entertained. 

To finish all at a stroke, Mr. Walsh concludes thus : 
*' The people (are) brutal, ferocious, and slavish, to the 
last degree ;" (this is the people, gentle reader, who de- 
fended their country from principle, and chose rather to 
die, than be the slaves, as others have been, of Buona- 
parte ;) " the government fitted in every respect, to foster 
their vices," (the vices which have saved a population of 
40 millions, and will probably save the world ;) " wild- 
ly sanguinary and anarchical within," (the government 
which was obeyed with such unexampled zeal and una- 
nimity ;) " not less mutable both at home and abroad," 
(which displayed such noble firmness in the last con- 
test ;) " always prone to plunder and oppress," (which 
has for years laboured to deliver the oppressed from the 
French yoke.) " Such rulers as Peter, Catherine, and 
Alexander, anomalies in the system, serve to exhibit 
both government and people under a better and delusive 
aspect" (but these three reigns form nearly the whole 
history of modern Russia, and anomalies often repeated, 
cease to be such.) " Without doubt, these monarchs 
have not laboured in vain for the improvement of their 
subjects (astonishing admission !) Much more has 
been accomplished by them, than the nature of the case 
seemed to admit," (in time, still more will be accomplish- 
ed) : " but the fundamental character remains" (that is, 
the progress of civilization goes backward ; the peo- 
ple, once made wiser, prefer ignorance, or taste the 



jSB STRICTURES ON THE 

blessings of social improvement, only to throw them 
away in disgust ; and the actual and repeated display of 
moral and political virtue is to be condemned upon the 
mere imaginary possibility of a future relapse ! ! ! ) 

To all this extraordinary splenetic ebullition, but 
ill-sustained by fallacious reasoning, and positively dis- 
proved by the irresistible and accumulating evidence of 
facts, I have nothing more to say, and will only adduce 
what I deem in this instance the strongest of all refuta- 
tions, — that of Mr. Walsh himself. When the notorious 
libels, miscalled " Dr. Clarke's Travels in Russia," 
were first transmitted to this country, and palmed upon 
the public under the imposing, but pre-engaged protec- 
tion of the Edinburgh Reviewers, Mr. Walsh, notwith- 
standing his more than filial reverence for these dictators 
and usurpers of the literary sceptre, inserted in his 5th 
number of the '•' American Review," a very able re- 
view, written by a Russian gentleman, and faulty only 
in conceding too much, where the Doctor is convicted 
not only of unpardonable errors, but of wilful, deliberate 
falsehoods ; not content, however, with sanctioning the 
review by its mere insertion, Mr. Walsh, conscious of 
the gootj cause he was supporting, introduced the re- 
view by an exposition of his own sentiments, in terms so 
Strong and distinct, that it seemed, as if he were fearful 
of not being sufficiently understood. In page 70, he 
thus speaks for himself ; and Truth, while she listens to 
Jiim, must weep not only for her loss of so able an advo- 
pate, but for the justness of the picture which he has 
unwittingly drawn pf himself : 

« In reading the critique of the Edinburgh Reviewers, we 
made every allowance, for the bias they were likely to receive, 
from the circumstance of their having, two years before, pledged 
themselves as it were, for the infallibility of their author, and 
from the perfect coincidence of his opinions, with those, wliictt 
they had uniformly maintained, on the subject of Russia — We 
were quite aware that they must strongly relish any bitterness 
of invective against the Russian government and nation, after 
what they had advanced concerning both, in their review of 
llulhiere's History of Poland ; and particularly after the pro ; 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 69 

mulgation of the following sentiment contained in their 28th 
Number. " Considering how little the Russian power has 

shown itself capable of effecting for the salvation of Europe - 

how wretched is the state of its subjects under the Russian gov- 
ernment — how trifling an acquisition of strength the common enemy 
could expect to obtain, from the entire possession of its resour- 
ces ; we acknowledge that we should contemplate with great 
composure, any change which might lay the foundation of future 
improvement, and scatter the forces of France over the domin- 
ions of the Czars"* 

'Notwithstanding our recollection of the existence of such ob- 
stacles as these, to perfect impartiality on the part of the Edin- 
burgh Reviewers, and the other discouraging circumstances we 
have mentioned, our hopes with regard to Dr. Clarke, were 
sustained by the singularly positive tone, and affectionate tenor 
of their panegyrick, on this long ordained apostle of light.' 
* * ****** #- 

' We were unwilling to admit,the possibility of this unhallowed 
allotment of their favours in any case, and particularly in one, 
where the point at issue is of such vast importance, as whether, 
not simply a few individuals, but a whole nation, consisting of 
thirty millions of inhabitants, and claiming a place in the ranks 
of civilization, is to be considered as scarcely entitled to the ep- 
ithet of human, and as wallowing universally, in the vilest pollu- 
tions of the most sensual barbarism, and the most abject slavery ; 
for such is the true amount of the charge which Dr. Clarke pre- 
fers agsinst Russia, and which it is the object of almost every 
paragraph of his work to confirm. 

' Under the impressions we have here stated, we took up the 
Travels of Dr. Clarke with unusual avidity, but had not read 
many pages, before we began to suspect, that we had been mis- 
erably deceived. — As Ave proceeded, our disgust increased, and 
after wading through the whole volume, we closed it with the 
conviction, that the author was the very reverse of what he is 
represented to be, by his Edinburgh friends. We found his 
work throughout, a malignant, elaborate and yet awkward libel 
against a whole people, of whom he, r .n fact, personally had, if 
we may judge from the particulars of his own narrative, but little 
reason to complain, although he would fain exhibit himself, as 
the victim of their pretended ferocity and rapaciousness. — We 
found him not only grossly deficient in common candour, in 
gratitude, and in manly sense, but in consistency, in method, in 
general scientific knowledge, in intelligent observation, and even 
in the vulgar merit of a tolerably good style : — filling his pages 
with the most puerile and slanderous anecdotes ; falling into the 
most palpable and immediate contradictions ; repeating verbatim 

* Review of Lord Sheffield, and others, on foreign affairs. 



VO STRICTURES ON THE 

in several instances, whole paragraphs of his coarse invectiva 
outraging all taste and decency in a multitude of his phrases ;-— 
surfeiting the reader with peevish, jejune stories of his own fic- 
titious martyrdom ; violating, in fine, every rule of sound logic 
and fair accusation, by sweeping anathemas, and the most vague- 
generalities. 

< We deemed all this -the more extraordinary and unpardona- 
ble, as Dr. Clarke had enjoyed, in the space of eleven years, 
which elapsed from the period of his residence in Russia, until 
that of the publication of his work, full time to correct whatever 
inaccuracies of language or relation, might have crept into his 
journal, in the haste of itinerary composition. He had wanted 
for none of the advantages, requisite to enable him to tranquil- 
lize his mind into a state of philosophical equity, to chasten the 
outre colouring, and to temper the excessive asperity, and im- 
moderate latitude of censure into which he might have been 
originally betrayed, by what we would readily allow to be, ex- 
cusable sentiments of indignation, however warm, on the suppo- 
sition, that he had been really plundered and maltreated by the 
Russians, to the extent implied in his general declarations, al- 
though by no means proven in his few and equivocal examples 
of the fact. He had, besides, in the long interval we have men- 
tioned, ample leisure to recollect and describe, what he saw in 
Russia of a praiseworthy nature ; to draw from his memory and 
to recite, in the benevolent spirit and with the ingenuous alacri- 
ty of a philanthropist, many more exceptions than the few he has 
so reluctantly and penuriously made, to his general accusation 
of superlative barbarism and depravity ; for, common sense will 
not endure even the supposition, that, among a nation so popu- 
lous as the Russian, and circumstanced as she has been for 
many years past, there is nothing to be extolled ; scarcely a 
single instance of moral or intellectual worth ; of ordinary re- 
finement in manners or in feeling. So monstrous and incredible 
a tale can argue, in the person who would thus write or talk, 
nothing other than downright stupidity, or premeditated slander, 
or the most narrow prejudice. It must,. in the estimation of all 
judicious men, defeat its own purpose, and recoil upon the narr 
rator. 

' Our opinion of Dr. Clarke's book was so opposite to that of 
our brethren in England, that we could not but distrust even, 
as it were, the evidence of our humble intuition. We were, 
therefore, induced to consult some of the most intelligent and 
impartial of our literary friends, who had read the work with at- 
tention. We discovered that they concurred fully in our decis- 
ion, and were no less indignant than ourselves, at the unparallel- 
ed license with which the author has availed himself of his 
character of a travelling antiquary, to vilify an immense people 
for the gratification of his private resentments, and at the hardi- 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 71 

hood with which he has attempted to mislead the British pub- 
lic, and the world, upon the strength of the reputation for gene- 
ral ability and knowledge, which he had so undeservedly acquir- 
ed, by his proficiency in archailogical studies In our estimate 
of the accuracy of his statements, we are moreover, guided by 
the information we have industriously collected, from other 
sources of at least equal authority We allude to the previous 
narratives of English and other travellers, and particularly to the 
copious verbal accounts, we received in Paris, and in London, 
from men of the highest respectability, whose opportunities 
were much more favourable to correct observation than those of 
Dr. Clarke, and who, certainly, like ourselves, are very far from 
being disposed to exaggerate the merits, or to overrate the re- 
sources either of the Russian government or people.' 

Here is developed the true nature of that monstrous- 
hostility to Russia, which is its own creation and sup- 
port ; and which Dr. Clarke and the Edinburgh Review- 
ers have uniformly manifested, and systematically pursu- 
ed. In so strongly and justly condemning it, Mr. Walsh, 
who is now enlisted on their side with a previous 
knowledge of their undue bias, has, of course, passed a 
more severe censure upon himself, than might be ex- 
pected, even from my own inclination, supposing I had 
the power. Moreover, he aggravated this censure, by 
adding to other charges against him, that of inconsist- 
ency ; for, it is certain, he cannot be right in both in- 
stances : without, however, pressing him too much on 
this point, I shall merely content myself with asking, 
what have the Russians done since, either in their na- 
tional or individual capacity, to induce him, at the risk 
of his own reputation for steadiness, to revoke so soon 
all his former sentiments, to retract all his favourable 
exceptions, to outclarke Clarke himself, and with one 
fell swoop, to strike the Russians, one and all, young 
and old, from the face of the moral world ? Surely, 
it could not arise from their gallant self-defence, and 
their victories over Buonaparte ; it could not be from 
any dissatisfaction against an individual, unjustly ex- 
tended against a whole nation ; it could not proceed 
from any fresh information, study, and reflection,* for 

* It is true that Mr. Walsh concludes his first letter with de- 
claring that his present opinion is the result of the information 



$g STRICTURES ON THE 

these, as Mr. Walsh plainly intimated, produced a 
contrary effect, and made him think and speak bet- 
ter of the Russian nation, than he did in his letter on 
the genius of the French government :" unless, there- 
fore, he can produce some other reason, and until such 
reason is produced/it is scarcely possible to resist the sus- 
picion that this sudden change or recantation is a pre- 
paratory oblation — a propitiatory sacrifice to Francis 
Jeffries, esq. the Abraham of the Edinburgh tribe, who 
is now in America, ready to receive a prodigal but re- 
pentant son into the bosom of an affectionate family, 
panting for a speedy reconciliation. 

The concluding part of the first letter, as I may have 
occasion to refer to it hereafter, I shall dismiss for the 
present, and proceed to the second, where Mr. Walsh la- 
bours the most, with no better success ; and where I 
regret exceedingly not having the assistance of Mr. 
Harper, who foreseeing probably a long contest in which 
he might involve himself, and having less motives than, 
myself to defend the Russians, forbore to make any re- 
ply to Mr. Walsh's voluminous animadversions, and 
thus left him in the enjoyment of a seeming triumph. 

In this letter, the effects of bad political company are 
no less discernible ; and, were it not for the characteris- 
tic affectation of introducing on the slightest occasions, 
or no occasions at all, the pompous Johnsonian nomen- 
clature, and quotations from foreign languages, just to 
show the world how learned and accomplished the writer 
is, I should lose here every trace of Mr. Walsh. Instead 
of preserving his identity, and being strong even in his 
weakness ; he is now wavering, contradictory, excur- 
sive, desultory, not very perspicuous. His temporary 
deviation from the creed of his Scotch friends, was, 
strictly speaking, his lucid interval, as far as Russia is 
concerned ; but when he resumes his old faith, and 

he collected ; but as he so positively expressed a different 
opinion before, resulting; from the same cause, it would save 
the public some trouble, if he would say in which of the two in- 
stances he wishes to be believed. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. *S 

Courts again their favours by his fancied atonement or 
imaginary repentance, it, is then only that he quits the 
genuine light of Mr. Harper, pursues the ignis Jh tuns 
of the Edinburgh Reviewers, and, in fact, commences, 
or rather recommences, the course of the prodigal son. 
It is then that he travels by obscure paths, through 
thickets and wilderness, as if ashamed of his renewed 
connection, and fearful of encountering his master's 
frowns ; or tacitly yielding to that superior strength 
which drove him from the open road. 

After threatening the Russians with a volume on the 
progress of their " genius, disposition, and power," a 
task for which he is particularly qualified, from his ex- 
emplary candour, and that trilling prejudice which he 
has so well exposed in others ; after acquainting Mr. 
Harper with the great discovery that the expansion of 
the Russian power, and the French revolution, have had, 
and will have, a great influence on the state of Europe ; 
after the glaring mockery of professing to judge Russians- 
with more kindness " than the plurality of writers," quite 
" charitably" thus adding insult to injury ; and after 
the reluctant admission, only in compliment to Mr. 
Harper, that the Russian peasantry (very charitably in- 
deed !) are gs>od only in part, and possessed of contra- 
dictory qualities ; Mr. Walsh passes to Sir R. Wilson^ 
and drags him forth an unwilling, coadjutor in strip- 
ping the Russians of their military pretensions. " Sir 
R. Wilson," says Mr. Walsh, r c one of the best inform- 
ed and most enthusiastic of the advocates of Russia,, 
complains in his remarks on the character and composi- 
tion of her armies, of a great deficiency of skill and sci- 
ence in their organization and government, and of the 
want of good officers of almost every grade." 

With all due deference to Mi, Walsh, I must ob- 
serve that the zealous spirit of persecution, which seems 
to have all at once possessed him, has not improved his 
faculty of perception ; but like the other spirit, whicb 



74 STRICTURES ON THE 

need not be mentioned, has doubled every object within 
his sight ; for it so happens, that Sir R. Wilson (ei- 
ther says nor means near so much, as to justify the 
above construction. He certainly questions the skill 
of the inferior, or, as he calls them, regimental officers ; 
but makes a studied and flattering exception as to the 
superior commanders : therefore, the expression, " want 
of officers of almost every grade," is rather too gra- 
tuitously engrafted, and is an excrescence upon Sir R. 
Wilson's opinion. He finds some fault with the 
commissariat, and justly too, for it was not in the 
best condition imaginable ; but its derangement was 
temporary, owing' to the sudden pressure of circum- 
stances, and not to any permanent defects, as Sir R. 
Wilson himself seems to intimate, and as the late events 
have amply testified.* This department was conduct- 
ed during the last campaign with such ability, as to pre- 
clude even a whisper of complaint ; and an army of 
150,000 men at least, in pursuit of an enemy flying 
over the plains of snow, was seen to move through 
a wasted country, where even the French asserted it 
could not maintain itself, without being retarded or 
checked for a moment by any failure of supplies i 
a management so superior, that Sir R. Wilson will 
not fail to do justice to it, and retract his censure, 
if he meant to apply it to a supposed radical er- 
ror or want of system. The distress of the Russian 
army in 1806-7, the disappointment which Sir R. 
Wilson felt at its not pushing its successes after the 
battle of Eylau, and the necessity of accounting for 
the final miscarriage, must have considerably influ- 
enced his opinion ; not to mention his being an 
Englishman and an English officer, two characters 
which scarcely ever can be divested of prejudice, in 
any statements implying a comparison with themselves. 

* The French commissariat was in a state of total derange- 
ment in the year 1799, as Mr. Walsh well knows ; yet I am 
sure he would not on that account deny its acknowledged pre- 
eminence. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. ?5 

I am willing however, to rest on the authority of 
this gentleman, if Mr. Walsh consents to admit it 
in whole ; and I confess I do not see upon what fair 
grounds can be quoted as an authority, what seems to 
favour, but is the smallest part of that which goes 
wholly to subvert, a favourite position. If Sir R„ 
Wilson is the best informed of the advocates of Rus- 
sia, as Mr. Walsh considers him, and as he is gene- 
rally considered by the Russians ; Mr. Walsh must 
explain why he preferred to him Dr. Clarke and the 
Edinburgh Reviewers, whom he himself has pro- 
nounced not only destitute of correct information, 
but incapable of receiving it, in consequence of a 
previous bias. Dexterity in extricating himself seems 
to flatter him so much more than any reputation for 
consistency, that he multiplies his own difficulties as 
it were by choice ; in order therefore, that materials 
may not be wanting to exercise his ingenuity, I beg 
him, in addition to the above, to reconcile his de- 
nunciation of Russian officers as to skill and sci- 
ence, with the following conclusion of the note 1, 
page 98, penned by himself upon a maturer reflec- 
tion, and inserted in the same correspondence. 

u It is remarkable how unsuccessful the Austrians 
have always been in their battles and wars with the 
Turks, whereas the Russians have been* almost uni- 
formly victorious. In the war of 1739, the disparity 
whether of fortune, soldiership, or generalship (per- 
haps of all three) was particularly striking. In that 
of Joseph II. also, he was beaten, while his ally was 
splendidly triumphant. To the skill and intrepidity 
of Suwarrow, he owed the rescue of his best troops 
from utter destruction." 

The old saying, " truth will perforce break out," 
is here completely verified ; for I cannot pay Mr. 
Walsh the compliment, after what he had advanced, 
to suppose that he was aware of the extent of what 
thus escaped from his pen, that he remembered 
Austria, as the well beloved of the Edinburgh Re 



76 STRICTURES ON THE 

viewers, and his own darling, when he thus allowed 
the Russians a superior claim over her in military 
skill, or that in rescuing the Turks from contempt, 
with whom Russia fought, so long without increasing 
much her military reputation abroad, he meant to 
confess the fact of their present weakness having been 
the consequence, and not the cause, of her reiterated 
victories. He speaks in terms so general, that he can- 
not save himself by any exception with regard to 
Suwarrow, who was then only a general of division, 
one of the many, who, as well as himself, knew some- 
thing of tactics ; Romantzow was indeed his master. 
Talents, therefore, were not confined to Suwarrow 
alone, though in him they shone with preeminent 
lustre ; but were extended to his fellow soldiers, such 
as Kutuzow ; and this extension implies a system 
of science and education, the effects of which were 
so strikingly displayed in the last campaign. As the 
Russians have not degenerated in the interval, Mr. 
Walsh and his friends might have easily anticipated 
such effects ; were it not for the wilful blindness 
created by a rooted and unaccountable prejudice, to 
which they are voluntary victims. 

Mr. Walsh questions next the ability of Russia, to 
bring her full means into action, and supports it by 
her having had so few troops at the battle of Baut- 
zen, and by the numerical inferiority of the armies 
of Suwarrow and Beningsen ; thus again paying a 
just compliment (yet undesigned because it contradicts 
his own opinion) to the Russian generals and troops, 
who with such uniform numerical inferiority, main- 
tained a successful struggle with the overwhelming 
forces and talents of Buonaparte, — a thing which 
could not have been done without talents and skill at 
least equal to those of the enemy. 

There are two answers to this : one is, that the 
means of Russia being chiefly in kind, though ample 
for home defence, cannot be converted into money 
with such facility as to support the same numbers 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. K 

abroad : the less so, as plunder, the chief resource 
of the French, is not within the catalogue of her 
regular, or irregular expedients. The other answer 
is furnished by Mr. Walsh himself in his first letter, 
where he says, that the sovereign of Russia is far 
less arbitrary than "Buonaparte, which is so far true, 
as to do away entirely Mr. Walsh's charge of orien- 
tal despotism on the part of government, and of ab- 
ject slavery on the part of the people. It is certain, 
that the Russian government has not yet at any peri- 
od resorted to that merciless tyranny and remorseless 
extortion, which have enabled Buonaparte to raise his 
present force, and which Mr. Walsh makes the sub- 
ject of a panegyrick, in the manner of a certain 
American gentleman, whose letter from Hamburgh to 
his friends here, was much paraded in the newspapers. 
The writer can be duly appreciated, by the contents of 
the letter. The Russians quitted Hamburgh from ne- 
cessity, and their behaviour whilst there, was so gentle 
and friendly, that rather than force the inhabitants to 
work, they gave up the city fortifications, which they had 
just begun : but when Davoust came there, and bar- 
barously compelled even women and children to dig 
ditches, and make parapets ; the canting philanthropist 
above mentioned, though he acknowledges the ex- 
treme cruelty of this conduct, immediately converts 
it into the means of exalting the French skill over 
that of the Russians ! ! ! 

Mr. Walsh throws off at length his mask, and 
points openly to the source (not quite so pure as the 
Castalian spring) from which he derives all his in- 
spiration, by referring Mr. Harper to the last number of 
the Edinburgh Review, which contains under a supposed 
critique " An official vindication (so says Mr. Walsh, 
who knows their secrets) of the deportment (not conduct) 
of the (Foxite) administration," and also " some strik- 
ing arguments" and " many important historical facts." 

As my reply to the Edinburgh Reviewers on the 
same subject, is already before the public, and as I 



78 STRICTURES ON THE 

am determined to have nothing more to do with 
those poisoners of the public mind, I shall not detain 
the reader long upon tins topic ; but will merely ask 
Mr. Walsh, what are " the strong arguments and facts" 
he so proudly holds to public view ? Though I have not 
followed the Reviewers through the whole labyriuth 
of their sophistry and misrepresentations, having neither 
will nor power to meet them at every avenue, with- 
out being initiated in their mysteries, or having Mr. 
Walsh for my Ariadna ; yet I trust I have convicted 
them of some mistatements so glaring as to discredit 
what remains, hidden under the official mantle, and is 
therefore less liable to the risk of detection. Men who 
will attempt to deceive in things notorious to all the 
world, are not likely to tell truth, when the means of 
trying their veracity are within themselves. One fact, 
however, and it is very important, I have since learned 
from the Austrian manifesto, which is, that this power 
has been in some degree the victim of their wretched 
policy. 

The uniform system of this discontented and mis- 
chief-plotting junto, (I make no distinction between 
the Foxites, and the Edinburgh Reviewers, these last be- 
ing invested, according to Mr. Walsh, with the offi- 
cial character of the former) has been that of forbear- 
ance, peace, submission, and propitiation, with regard 
to Buonaparte. They carried it so far as to advise 
Alexander, in the year 1807, through their uncourteous 
agent Hutchinson, to make peace, instead of assisting 
him in war, even while Napoleon was on the point of 
carrying sword and fire into the heart of the Russian 
empire ; though with their characteristic duplicity and 
malice they made this very peace a constant theme of 
reproach to the Russian emperor. This system, or 
rather, this subversion of all system, they founded and 
supported (a piece of straw is better than no support 
at all) upon the supposed inability of the nations to 
contend with their idol ; or, as Mr. Walsh would have 
it, upon his irresistibility and invincibility : and the 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 79 

real meaning of it, if it can have any meaning, may 
be thus rendered intelligible. 

" Nations of Europe ! We know that to propitiate 
Buonaparte, is as impossible as for a poor mariner to 
propitiate the storm which has wrecked his ship, or 
the waves which must speedily engulf him ; there- 
fore, you must propitiate the all-devouring deity. We 
know that your remedy is only in 3 our sword ; there- 
fore do not take it up ! We know that peace with 
him is certain death, while war affords at least some 
chance of escaping ; at all events it cannot make your 
condition worse ; therefore pursue peace, shun war, 
and prepare to kiss the feet of the approaching con- 
queror ! We know that, as the number of his victims 
increase around you, your own ability to withstand 
him must be reduced ; therefore look on as indifferent 
spectators, until you are visited in your turn ! We 
know that your past defeats have already disabled 
you ; therefore wait patiently for an opportunity to 
contend with him singly ! He will not allow you time 
to breathe, he will prevent you from making yourselves 
stronger by any previous preparations or accumulation 
of means, he will break the peace whenever he thinks 
you are likely to gain by it ; but he is destined to be 
irresistible and invincible, and you must make him 
so ! He is exempt from all rules, from all obliga- 
tions ; but it is not for you to question his right of 
usurpation. The magnitude of his crimes makes them 
virtues : his will is a law, and submission is your only 
course I" 

This may appear a fanciful exposition ; but it is no 
longer so, when we read the confession of the Foxite 
administration, that Austria was not urged to assist the 
Russians, on account of her former disasters : when 
we peruse the edifying article, or, as Walsh calls it, 
u official vindication" in the Edinburgh Review, 
where the constant theme is " patience and submis 
sion ;" and when we finally peruse the Austrian 
manifesto, whose greatest merit is a plain confession 



80 STRICTURES ON THE 

of what she has done, evidently under the influence of 
this pernicious advice, or at least in coincidence with 
it. 

It is true, she says very little about her deserting 
Russia in 1806-7 ; but she confesses she did not as- 
sist her in the last campaign, and even took up arms 
against her, because no " human wisdom could have 
foreseen" the success of Russia : a most excellent rea- 
son ! a new mode of helping a neighbour ! Did Aus- 
tria, defeated and conquered, while assisted by Rus- 
sia, expect to make a better stand against Buona- 
parte, when Russia was annihilated ? No — but she 
expected to propitiate the future conqueror, notwith- 
standing her past and painful experience, that the only 
way to propitiate so greedy a monster, is to creep into 
his jaws at once. She tried the expedient of propitia- 
tion in 1806 — and yet in the year 1809,* she paid 
most dearly for it. Not profiting, however, by the 
instruction thus purchased, she clung to the Foxite or 

* Here I must notice Mr. Harper's admission in part, that 
Alexander deserted Austria in her last contest, and that he 
might have checked Buonaparte's career at that time, by coope- 
rating with her. After she had so shamefully deserted him, at 
the only moment that he ever stood in need of her assistance, at 
the very moment too, that his past and undeviating efforts to 
save her, at every sacrifice of blood and treasure, had given 
him a particular right to expect at least something from her 
gratitude ; it was not prudent, it was not justly dealing with his 
own people, and it was repugnant to the course of nature, for 
him again to come forward in her defence, without some assu- 
rance of her better conduct. Besides, I venture to say, the ef- 
fect of such cooperation, far from checking Buonaparte's ca- 
reer, would have rather assisted it, as may be inferred from the 
coalition of 1805, dissolved by the battle of Austerlitz, which 
produced Austria's immediate secession from the common 
cause, and made her conclude an ignominious peace, at the criti- 
cal time when the arrival ot the archduke Charles from Italy, 
made her ability to continue the contest, greater than ever. 
In the year 1809, her power being much weaker, and that 
of Buonaparte much stronger, for he had not yet received 
his mortal blow in a Russian campaign ; success, while 
her wavering disposition was likely to be more so, in propor- 
tion to the increase of her fe#r%, was totally out of the ques- 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 81 

this sameEdinburghReview system, with such fondness, 
that, though she confesses there was no prospect of peace, 
that Buonaparte countenanced no such hopes, that he 
treated her with disdain,* and that she did not know 



tion. These were the powerful considerations which made Al- 
exander pause for once, and produced what Mr. Walsh, with 
his uaual justice, calls « a scandalous desertion from the com- 
mon cause." In truth, the emperor was not even asked to join 
this Cdtlse ; for it seems, Austria, faithful to the Foxite doctrine, 
was determined to try what she could do alone, after her neigh- 
bours and herself had been a little more exhausted ! I 

* This behaviour of Buonaparte, I confess, excites my serious 
apprehensions as to the faith of Austria. Though I have no great 
opinion of him as a sound statesman, for reasons already sta- 
ted ; yet at a moment so important to his interests, his not 
even condescending to court her, When she was so willing to 
be courted, as may be seen from her manifesto, must have had 
some peculiar reasons, and thus I understand them. The blow 
of the last campaign has wounded the pride and military repu- 
tation of Buonaparte, more deeply even than his interests ; so 
deeply as to require some great and desperate deed on his part, 
no less than to conquer again all the powers combined against 
him, and thus, at once, recover all, and place himself on his for- 
mer eminence. The aid of Austria would subject him to the 
imputation, intolerable to him, of being saved by her ; therefore, 
he did not ask it, but resolved to owe every thing to himself. If 
her cooperation with the allies should render his situation such 
as to require her assistance ; he would then have time enougli 
to apply for it, as he seems sure of detaching her whenever he 
pleases, well knowing her wants and views, what to offer her, 
and how to work upon her fears and jealousies of Russia. (As to 
the last, he has only to send her the Edinburgh Review, or Mr. 
Walsh's forebodings ; and these will inform her of such aggressions, 
grievances, and dangers, to be apprehended from the north, as 
she never dreamed of before ; as would haunt her by day and 
night, and actually frighten her into compliance with Buona- 
parte's wishes 1 ! !) With this view, warranted by the character of 
Buonaparte, I have no trifling fears as to the conduct of Austria 
at a great and decisive moment, should such arrive, in 
Buonaparte's fortunes ; the more so, as her studiously re- 
spectful language towards him, far beyond what might be con- 
sidered due to his matrimonial connection with her, seems in- 
tended to leave her an opening for no distant accommodatioa 
with the 'tyrant of Europe. If, therefore, I am still willing to in- 



w STRICTURES ON THE 

even of any proposals made by him, except through 
public papers (a very respectful and promising mode of 
communication ! !} ; still, instead of taking up arms 
immediately, she brought on the armistice, to which , 
unless he expected to gain by it, and had actually gained 
three times as much as his adversaries, he would never 
have consented : still she persisted in prolonging this 
mockery of negotiation, until Alexander, complaisant as 
he was, being sensible of the advantages she thus pro- 
cured for the enemy, could no longer consent to be the 
sacrifice of her infatuated impolicy ; and, according to 
her own avowal, it is his merit, and not hers, that the 
armistice is not to this time prolonged. Mr. Walsh 
calls this " consistency" on the part of Austria, faF 
preferable to the conduct of the Russian government i 
but it is a consistency very much like his own, of which 
a few examples have been given ; for she too contra- 
dicts what she says by her acts,* declaring that peace 
with Buonaparte is impracticable, and yet pursuing 
peace to the very brink of destruction, from which Al- 
exander has saved her, in spite of herself. It is the con- 
sistency of opposing practice to theory ; and to extol it, 
as Mr. Walsh has done, is to maintain that a man, con- 



cfulge better hopes, it is not because I have more faith in Aus- 
tria, or in coalitions where she is a component part ; but because 
the war in which she has at length embarked, seems to be that 
of her people ; and because the present coalition differs from all 
the former, in Russia's being the principal in the contest, in the 
instructive lesson she has furnished to Prussia and the Germans, 
in her having destroyed the spell of French invincibility, revived 
the hopes of the continent, given vent to the general hatred of 
the French yoke, and in her having struck the first heavy 
blow, from which Buonaparte may for a time relieve himself? 
but never can entirely recover. 

* Also by her own declarations ; as in the very manifesto 
where she says, " no human wisdom could foresee" Buonaparte's 
failure in Russia, she, without any help from superhuman wisdom? 
coolly traces that same failure to his " illusion," " false political 
view of things," disregard of the " rules of prudence," and 
his outstepping the bounds of nature," in invading the Russian 
empire 1 ! J 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. Sb 

stant in vice, is better than a man occasionally, but rare- 
ly, deviating from virtue. It is the consistency of " all 
the talents," who chose rather to do wrong, than to do 
right, for fear of destroying their uniformity of opposi- 
tion to Pitt. But I will say no more about Austria, 
than what I have said before : that she is the victim of 
a policy similar to that which the Edinburgh Reviewers 
have professed ; and that Russia, the only power oppos- 
ed to this policy, is the only one saved, and is the only 
one that will save Europe, to the great mortificationf 
of Dr. Clarke, Mr. Walsh, Cobbett, Bell, Duane, and 
the Edinburgh Reviewers, I have one thing more to 



t This cannot be for a moment doubted, when we consider the 
declaration of the Edinburgh Reviewers, (leaders of the rest) 
as re-quoted from Mr. Walsh, in the preceding part of these re- 
marks, and to be found in their 28th No., containing among other 
articles, a review of Rulhiere's history ; which like that of 
Castera, describes, or pretends to describe, only the Rus- 
sian court, and, having no reference to theRussian people, is a pretty 
good specimen of those authorities on which Mr. Walsh seems 
evidently to rely, in forming his fair estimation of the national 
Russian character. The concluding part of the Review of Br. 
Clarke's Travels, shews still more forcibly the mortification of 
the Edinburgh Reviewers, even at the mere probability of the 
Russian triumphs ; for there they plainly insinuate, it is better 
to be scourged by Buonaparte, than to be delivered by the Rus- 
sians Mr. Walsh also need not be angry at my placing him in 
so bad company ; for he fairly has deserved this distinction 
by the following undisguised expression of his sentiments, letter 
1, page 3 2 : " nothing would exemplify more piteously the 
wretched condition of the European continent, than that it should 
be compelled to sigh for triumph of their (Russian) arms ; to 
look to them (the Russians) as deliverers.'' 

Russia, the nations rescued by her, and Mr. Harper, who cog- 
nomenized{\ beg Mr. Walsh's pardon for making free with his sub- 
stantives,) Alexander, as the deliverer, are exceedingly obliged 
to Mr. Walsh for theabove compliment! ! Mr.Harper, in partic- 
ular, must feel the sincerity of the praises bestowed upon him for 
ihat same cognomen, and other parts of his eloquent speech. 
Even I must thank Mr. Walsh for this sincerity of praise, 
some of which he unwittingly bestowed on me ; for, strange as 
it may appear, and little as Mr. Walsh can be suspected of a 
design to praise a Russian, he has done so by his encomium on 
that part of Mr. Harper's speech, which relates to the Rus 



84 STRICTURES ON THE 

say, by way of a hint to Mr, Walsh, that, though I have 
been free in my remarks on the conduct of the Austrian 
government, I have not in any instance, to the best of 
my knowledge, disparaged her generals, officers, and sol- 
diers : I have not even said, as Mr. Walsh has, that 
they were inferior to those of Russia. I have never stig- 
matized the whole people, and denounced Austria as a 
nation, though I have much more to complain of her, 
than he has of Russia. 

On the subject of the catastrophe which befel Paul, I 
am very unwilling to say any thing ; and the reader, I 
am sure, will duly appreciate my motives. I cannot, 
however, dismiss it, without observing that Mr. Walsh 
is mistaken, when he states that several of the reputed 
conspirators "are now enjoying the highest honors of the 
empire." Unless Mr. Walsh is much better acquaint- 
ed with the high offices and " honours" in Russia, than 
the Russians themselves, I am confident his assertion is 
not correct : not one of the conspirators, to the best of 
my knowledge, is in any employ whatever, though 
some of their relations may be excepted, as the Russian 
government does not persecute a whole family for the 
offences of one of its members. Mr. Walsh's insinua- 
tion that Alexander, as the " creature of a factious 
band," vvas concerned in the plot, deserves no an- 
swer : it is the first time, that the succession of an, 
heir apparent to his legitimate throne, has been stigma- 
tised as the work of a faction ; and a prince, like Alex- 
ander, suspected of conspiring against his father. E- 
qually unfounded is Mr. Walsh's assertion, that the con, 
version of Paul to French politics, was the chief motive of 
his assassination. Not one of the supposed agents has 
ever shewn, privately or publicity, any thing like a pre- 

sian campaign, and where, particularly with regard to the 
battle of Borodino, I preceded the eminent orator in the same 
views and opinions ; not that I flatter myself Mr. Harper con- 
sulted my " Sketch," or even perused it, but that it was my for- 
tune to fall in with his sentiments, without the suspicion of hav- 
ing borrowed then> 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 85 

dilection for British politicks, or appeared connected 
with what is called British party. Mr. Walsh, when he 
makes assertions like these, ought to have proofs, and 
not rely only upon his own reasonings or upon what he 
considers his analogies ; the case of Peter III. which he 
cites, not being exactly parallel. This prince acted the 
part of a foreigner, from his foreign habits, education, 
and enthusiasm for every thing Prussian ; and he could 
not be the son of the duke of Holstein, and at the same 
time " a native Russian," as Mr. Walsh makes him in 
his quotation from Mr. Burke. The adoption of Pe- 
ter III. as heir to the Russian throne, by the empress 
Elizabeth, his aunt, sufficiently shows that he was not 
considered as a native Russian, though by that adop- 
tion he became entitled to the privileges of a native Rus- 
sian prince. 

After calling Alexander " the creature" of faction, 
Mr. Walsh believes him to be ■* mild, generous, and 
pacific ;" then charges him with " grossly selfish usur- 
pations." Again, he describes him in the next (66th) 
page, as " fond of his ease, addicted to idle pleasures" 
(a prince who has repeatedly exposed his life in battle, 
and his health in the arduous toils of a campaign) ; 
" irresolute, extremely pliable, wanting, in short, what 
the French call caractere" (Napoleon can best inform 
Mr. Walsh whether Alexander has resolution or car- 
actere) ; but yet in a note subjoined, Mr. Walsh 
acknowledges that Alexander, as he grows older (a fine 
promising boy !) " displays more of the energy and de- 
cision of Peter and Catherine." Mr. Walsh next com- 
mences an edifying lecture upon " youth and tempta- 
tions," calculated to improve the morals of his majesty ; 
and finishes like a Daniel, a very Solomon in wisdom, 
though not quite so old himself as the imperial pupil. 

In all this, there is but one thing uncontradicted by 
Mr. Walsh himself, which I shall notice : I mean what 
he calls Alexander's grossly selfish and ignoble usurpa- 
tions on Prussia, Austria, and Sweden. 



9| STRICTURES ON THE 

As to Prussia, the small province of Bialostock, 
taken from her, was indispensable to the safety of the 
Russian empire ; not merely as it established a more 
natural boundary, b.'t as it presented a bar to the new 
kingdom of Warsaw, the erection of which and vast 
extension, under a creature of Buonaparte, was obvious- 
ly designed to overawe and annoy Russia. Thus the 
change of circumstances alone, (so paltry an acquisition 
in other respects, could be no temptation,) and the dan- 
gerous tendency of such a change, made Russia annex 
this province to herself : and Prussia, who owed every 
thing else solely to the perseverance of Alexander in her 
cause, as Buonaparte says expressly in making restitu- 
tions to her,never once complained of the act ; not even 
when she was forced to take arms against Russia, and 
when such a pretext would have been acceptable. Mr. 
Walsh, therefore, may be consoled, and reserve his sym- 
pathies for some other occasion, when they should be 
needed by the party aggrieved. 

The same may be said of Sweden, whose present 
government has expressed its perfect content with the 
conduct of Russia. Self-preservation is the first law 
with respect to individuals, and more emphatically so 
with respect to nations. Russia foresaw the storm that 
would burst upon her from all sides, and apprehended, 
with reason, an attack through Sweden ; consequently, 
every measure of precaution was a duty she owed to 
herself. While Sweden held a part of Finland, Russia 
was assailable from that quarter, and her capital was in 
imminent danger, as may be proved from past experi- 
ence : the very circumstance of being forced to guard 
the extensive frontier of this country was pregnant 
with mischief, as it diverted a large portion of her force 
from the great purpose of self-defence. It was,therefore ? 
only by securing the possession of the whole, and by 
rendering every attempt on the side of Sweden hopeless 
and impracticable, that Russia could expect to preserve 
herself : and we have seen what essential service, no 
less than the preservation of St. Petersburgh, and de= 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 87 

rangement of the whole plan of invasion, has been ren- 
dered by die troops transported from Finland, partly by 
land and partly by water, to reinforce Witgenstein*s 
army. To the conquest of Finland then, and to the 
timely peace with Turkey, in which I see nothing but 
deep foresight and consummate wisdom, Russia is in- 
debted for her own safety and that of Europe, to be 
rescued only through her means ; can such conquests 
be regretted or condemned ?* The former geographi- 
cal division of Finland, bringing Russia and Sweden m 
contact with each other, was so fruitful and constant a 



* The English government had not half so urgent a pretext 
to destroy the Danish fleet, as no one can believe for a mo- 
ment, that the British navy was not more than sufficient to 
guard England against twenty such fleets ; yet the expedition 
was planned, executed, and justified. I know Mr. Walsh wii! 
say, that what is right, is always right ; but the principles of 
morality, as applicable to individuals, arc not always so to 
nations. A moralist like Mr. Walsh, would soon preach away 
an empire larger than the Russian : and Frederick the Great 
no doubt, was sensible of this, when he said, <•■ that whenever 
God wishes to curse any people, he gives them a philosopher 
for their ruler :" a sentiment the more weighty, as it comes 
from a king, who, otherwise, professed much friendship for phi- 
losophers, and knew them well from personal intercourse. Mr. 
Walsh will also say, that the Copenhagen expedition was not 
approved by him, or by his Foxite or Edinburgh friends ; to 
this I reply by anticipation, that his friends disapproved of it, 
merely because it was not their own work : in making which re- 
ply, I do not stand upon reasonings and analogies, but upon the 
well known fact, (not found in the Edinburgh Review, but not 
the less certain) of their having projected, while holding the 
reins of government, a similar expedition, and first in point of 
time, against Portugal, the seizure of whose fleet was the object 
intended. This ought to be a caution to Mr. Walsh, not to 
trust himself so much to the guidance of the Edinburgh Re- 
viewers, who, as long as he follows them, must, and will deceive 
him, particularly on subjects connected with Russia. Nay, they 
will leave him in the lurch : for, whenever they get the power 
into their hands, or find the administration of their opponents 
inimical to Russia, should this last be possible; they will immedi« 
ately abjure their present doctrines, and be as great friends and 
admirers of the Russians, as thev are now of the French. 



88 STRICTURES ON THE 

source of discontent and quarrels, that it lias long been 
my own humble opinion, and that of much wiser men, 
that Sweden would have been the gainer by the volun- 
tary concession of her part of Finland to Russia. The 
late manifesto of the present crown prince of Sweden, 
not only supports, but expresses, in delicate but intelli- 
gible terms, the same opinion ; and therefore I need 
not say more upon the subject, except to explain, 
that when I speak of conquests, I speak as a politician, 
and not as a philosopher, or abstract moralist ; a dis- 
tinction which I recommend to the attention of Mr. 
Walsh. 

As regards the " usurpation on Austria," by which 
Mr. Walsh means " the usurpation! of her Gallician 
territory, at the season of her greatest adversity ;" the 
nature of the fact ought to be well understood, before it 
is made a subject of censure. It is true, that by the 
treaty of 1809, between France and Austria, the latter 
engaged herself to cede to Russia a part of Gallicia ; 
but what part in reality, was not distinctly stated, and 
seemed purposely left in obscurity, the term " eastern- 
most," being the only one by which it is described, and 
neither the name mentioned, nor the boundaries pointed 
out, as was at the cession of Bialostock. Moreover, it 
does not appear that Russia has taken actual posses- 
sion of the territory so ceded ; or that she holds at pres- 
ent a single acre of land beyond the river Bug, which 



f The word usurpation inseparable from the idea of force and 
violence in a certain degree, cannot be properly applied to a 
voluntary cession of territory. Therefore, as no part of Galli- 
cia, was forcibly seized and held by Russia ; as the Russian ar- 
mies never came in the slightest contest with those of Austria ; 
and as the cession itself, appears voluntary, at least, resulting 
from some previous understanding between Russia and Austria : 
the assertion I have made in my reply to the Edinburgh Re- 
viewers — that Russia never took up arms against Austria, and 
never seized upon any of her possessions—still remains correct 
and unimpaired. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 89 

was her former frontier.* Had this usurpation been 
such as Mr. Walsh pretends to represent it, would 
Austria have passed it unnoticed, in her late manifesto, 
where she labours to justify herself for deserting Russia 
a second time, or, in other words, pleads guilty ? In- 
stead of assigning a reason, which is worse than the of- 
fence, being founded upon the supposed prostration of 
Russia, (a reason which ought to have had an opposite 
effect on the Austrian councils) would not she have at 
least conveyed a hint, under a slight cover of diplomatic 
language, that the seizure of her provinces by Russia in 
the year 1809, made it prudent and necessary to act as 
she did ? No trace of a hint like this is anv where to be 
found, though she is so pressed for excuses, as to have 
a recourse to one apparently plausible, but not the less 
nugatory — the fear of attracting the war upon her own 



* There is ho question but Buonaparte has offered to Alexan- 
der a much greater portion of Austrian possessions, in the 
manner that he formerly offered the whole of the Prussian do- 
mains laying between the Russian frontier and the Vistula ; and 
the refusal of Alexander in both instances, is a proof of a dispo- 
sition very different from that which Mr. Walsh ascribes to him. 
Austria in particular, ought to be thankful for this forbearance, 
as she must have been conscious of having forfeited every claim 
to it, by her previous desertion of him, in the year 1807, aggra- 
vated by the plea of inability to contend in conjunction with 
Russia, when, only two years afterwards, she thought herself 
strong enough to contend singly with Buonaparte. In truth, her 
taking the field thus alone, so entirely confounded the Foxite 
party in England, who, upon her pretended inability, laboured to 
justify her faithless conduct towards Russia ; that they were 
forced to shift their ground, and now tell us through some of their 
faithful interpreters, that Austria would ha-ue embarked in the com- 
mon cause in the year 1806, had she been sure of the cooperation 
of Russia ! ! This is really trifling with the public. What 
greater assurance could she possibly have, than the experience 
of the year 1799 and 1805, when she was assisted by Russia, as 
long as she was willing to be assisted ? And if we go farther, 
did she not owe the safety of her best troops, to the talents and 
activity of Suwarrow ? Mr. Walsh himself acknowledges this 
last, and thus furnishes a satisfactory comment on his pretended 
doubts of the cooperation of Russia : and on his dreams abo«t 
inveterate jealousies, 8tc. between her and Austria. 
M 



90 STRICTURES ON THE 

territory ; an excuse which the Edinburgh Reviewers, 
Cobbett, Mr. Walsh, and others, will, no doubi, seize 
with avidity : but before they undertake to give it cur- 
rency, let them explain what danger there was from this 
source, when Buonaparte was defeated, and, no longer a 
god, impelling the storm of war wherever he pleased, 
was skulking away a poor miserable fugitive ; and why 
Austria, instead of joining the allies immediately, kept 
temporising, manoeuvring, procrastinating, negotiating, 
and parleying, as she confesses, without any hope of 
success, and thus, — by allowing Buonaparte time to re- 
cover breath, — creating and provoking the very peril 
from which she affected to shrink ? 

Mr. Walsh says, " I am at a loss to understand how 
it can be said, that in any of her contests with France, 
Russia fought the battles of others, and not her own." 
This is the very language of the Edinburgh Reviewers. 
If Mr. Walsh means by this, that Russia ought to waste 
her best blood and treasure for others, without any inte- 
rest whatever or probable advantage to herself ; and 
that at this price only she can be allowed the credit of 
having fought the battles of others : he presupposes the 
folly and extravagance on her part, greater than those 
which were exemplified in Charles XII. and ruined Swe- 
den ; such indeed, as would justly subject a sovereign 
of Russia to the execration of his people, and to the 
censure of posterity. Mr. Walsh shows here a better ac- 
quaintance with the language of a grammarian, than with 
that of a statesman, else he would have understood that 
fighting " the battles of others," as applied to a nation, 
means only the remoteness of her interests in comparison 
to the interests of those whom she is succouring ; and 
surely it will not be pretended, that in opposing France,. 
Russia had nearer interests at stake than Austria and 
Prussia. If a fire breaks out in my next neighbour's 
house, it is my immediate interest to assist him ; but if 
a townsman comes from a distant quarter to assist u& 
both, he is fairly entitled to our thanks for his friendship 
and humanity ; and may be justly said to have laboured 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 94 

for our good, though in so doing, he secured his own 
house from the conflagration, the extent of which, so as 
to reach him, was barely within the limits of probability. 
The application of this simile is so obvious, that I will 
not stop to make it ; but proceed to notice the remarks 
on Peter the Great, which plainly show, that Mr. 
Walsh is determined to leave no stone unturned in Rus- 
sia, and spare neither those who still tread her soil, nor 
those who already sleep in peace beneath it. Indeed, 
had Buonaparte's sword been half so keen and envenom- 
ed, as is Mr. Walsh's pen, Russia by this time would 
have been no more, 

Mr. Walsh has a peculiar imposing manner, no doubt 
the result of extreme modesty, of stating, before he enters 
on any subject of importance, his own qualifications and 
pretensions to discuss it. Thus, before he speaks of 
France, he fails not to apprize the reader of his previous 
studies ; and when he embarks in the detraction of the 
Russian character, he forgets not his old manoeuvre of 
overawing whom he can, by his knowledge of theRussian 
ancient and modern history (Query, where did Mr. 
Walsh get at the ancient history of Russia ?), by the 
same collated documents, informations, preparations, 
reasonings, analogies, inquiries,* results, and a hundred 
other things, calculated to prevent any misconception of 
his own worth and consequence. Accordingly, having 
in his usual manner paved the way, he mounts his car, 
sets out in pursuit of Peter, and alights upon the river 
Pruth, where he finds him " blunder egregiously as a 
general," How happy Mr. Walsh has been in this first 
excursion, we shall presently be able to decide, 

Peter went to Moldavia for the purpose of rescuing 
the native princes from the Turkish yoke, and at their 

* Unluckily, Mr. Walsh uses the same mode of attack upon 
Dr. Clarke and the Edinburgh Reviewers, in defence of the 
Russian character, and consequently in condemnation of himself. 
This is a proof however, that, whether he blows hot or cold, 
trifles with himself, or his friends ; he expects to be obeyed, lis- 
tened to, and gazed on, as a " sir oracle." 



S2 STRICTURES ON THE 

express solicitations ; he had therefore a right to calcu* 
late upon their assistance, and their not fulfilling their 
engagements (all, save Gantimir, having deserted him) 
he was betrayed into a very difficult and embarrassing 
situation : this Mr. Walsh calls a blunder sufficient to 
impair Peter's reputation as a general. Buonaparte, on 
the contrary, flattered perhaps by such visionaries as 
Mr. Walsh and his friends, into the conviction of his 
own irresistibility and the incompetence of Russia to 
contend with him, conceives the Quixotic project of 
invading and conquering one of the greatest empires in 
the world, miscalculates his own means vast as they 
were, makes the rash attempt, falls from one error to 
another,^ and is beat back with unexampled disgrace 
and disaster : This Mr. Walsh calls " genius and re- 
sources ;" "a fresh indication of a mind of the most 
gigantic dimensions, and of an intrepidity and hardihood 
of soul never surpassed." Here, the worst faults of 
Buonaparte und the very atrociousness of the attempt, is 
converted by the good, moralizing, and impartial Mr, 
Walsh into praise and virtues ; merely because Russia, 
whom he treats so kindly and charitably was the object 
of the most diabolical invasion that was ever projected ; 
on the other hand, the very virtues of Peter which hur- 
ried him to the relief of others, which brought him to 
Save, not destroy, and betrayed him through too great 
confidence (a fault Buonaparte never can commit) in a 
good cause ; were transformed by this same Mr. Walsh, 
so ostentatious of candour and loaded with previous 
knowledge, into vices and errors ;-r-but the contrast does 
not end here. Buonaparte quits his army like a vile 

\ Though I have allowed Buonaparte, as a general actually 
commanding on the field, to have no rival at present ; this does 
not show him the less imprudent and deficient in the specula- 
tive character of a general : and his transcendent abilities to ex- 
ecute, tend only to illustrate more forcibly the presumptuous 
folly of his plan, which miscarried, though conducted by him- 
self. The failure of execution proves against Buonaparte ex- 
actly what the success of execution proves in favour of Kutuzow, 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 9.s 

coward, as Mr. Harper has asserted in his admirable 
speech, and illustrated in his no less admirable letter 
in a manner to prove his intimate knowledge of the hu- 
man heart : Mr. Walsh in face of the world dares to 
" deem" this, " an additional evidence of his (Buona- 
parte's) extraordinary sagacity and fortitude •" what 
did Peter in his own desperate situation ? There is no 
need of an hypothesis respecting Henry VII., who 
might, or might not, have died sooner than deserted 
his army ; I can answer Mr. Walsh by a reference to 
the case which actually happened : for it was on the 
river Pruth, on the very spot which Mr. Walsh has 
selected as the scene of Peter's imperfections, that this 
heroic monarch had resolved to perish with his army, 
and to sacrifice himself to the honour and independence 
of his country. It was here that his greatness was con- 
summated : and had he not committed what Mr. Walsh 
denominates a blunder, Russia would never have known 
the extent of his worth, his boundless love for her, and 
the pride of telling the world, of telling it to the face' of 
Mr. Walsh, Clarke, and the whole Edinburgh phalanx, 
that, of all the nations on earth, she alone possessed 
such a sovereign. 

Mr. Walsh's objection to Peter's " vulgarity of mind 
; — a mechanical character," excites an involuntary 
smile, and forces imagination to trace it to a sweet, 
pretty beau, powdered, laced, perfumed all over, and 
shuddering with horror at the mere possibility of soil- 
ing his fine clothes, or his delicate hands by a contact 
with such monsters as manufacturers and common 
mechanics : such a beau as once at the French court 
kept fluttering about Peter, changing his beauteous 
plumage with each succeeding day, until the barbarous 
monarch, who was not without his fine sayings, thus no- 
ticed him to some of the courtiers present : " This 
gentleman seems exceedingly dissatisfied with his 
tailors." 

The objection comes with peculiar grace from an 
American, emphatically the son of industry ; and is pos- 



94 STRICTURES ON THE 

sibly designed as an elegant and flattering compliment 
to the merchants and mechanics of New- England. I 
am really at a loss how to obviate it ; for,extreme absur- 
dity, like self-evident truth, often becomes unanswera- 
ble ; and which of these two I have now to overcome, 
the reader must judge for himself. It is the first time 
that a sovereign was stigmatized for knowing more than 
falls to the lot of his equals. It is precisely as if I 
would say, with no better claim to common sense, that 
Albert, whom Mr. Walsh brings against Peter, was a 
low-minded man, because he wore the tattered garments 
of a mean harper, submitted to the drudgery of loading 
his shoulders with a vile Welch harp, and condescended 
to the base employ ment'of a spy ! ! ! If Peter is to be cen- 
sured for what would be deemed honourable in others, 
but more meritorious in him, being a voluntary sacrifice, 
the Russians must give up defending him ; for they are 
so barbarous, uncivilized, and gross in their conceptions, 
that they are peculiarly proud of this, trait in his char- 
acter, and dwell with delight on his submitting to the 
handling of a hatchet at Sardam, and a great many other 
vulgarities : such as working with his own hands in the 
first iron manufactory established at St. Petersburg!}, 
turning ivory chandeliers for churches, performing sur- 
gical operations, serving as a cabin boy in the navy and 
as a drummer in the army, making drafts for building 
the ships, digging the canals, going down into the mines, 
walking at nights in the disguise of a peasant, marrying an 
obscure woman and being faithful to her, making minis- 
ters and statesmen of shopmen, dining with Dutch cap- 
tains, saving with his own hands, and at the expense of 
his own life,a few common paltry sailors, and other equal- 
ly ignoble and unworthy occupations. So infatuated are 
these miserable Russians, that if ever Mr. Waish should 
deem it consistent with his dignity and the delicacy of 
his nerves to approach and hear them ; they would tell 
him that it was by these vulgarities, and not by the 
bloody axe, as some of his friends, have asserted, that 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 95 

Peter succeeded in reforming his stubborn subjects ; 
men whom force could only have exasperated, but 
who by degrees yielded to the example set before them 
in his own person. He had to do all himself, and, 
Herculean as was the task, he accomplished it. He had 
also to guard against the false pretensions of foreign- 
ers seeking his service, in deciding on whose real 
merit, owing to the universal native ignorance, he had 
to depend altogether upon his own personal knowl- 
edge of their various professions ; and accordingly em- 
ployed them to the greatest advantage. This was his 
art of governing, this was his secret of transforming 
his people from barbarians into men. If Mr. Walsh 
can suppose for a moment, that violence effected alh ; 
he is unacquainted with human nature in general, and 
with the Russians in particular, of whose " genius 
and disposition" he undertakes to inform the world.* 

As Mr. Walsh seems to assume the severe moral- 
izing philosopher, whenever he speaks of the Russians* 
though to others he appears only an indulgent states- 
man ; I ask him to explain, logically and philosophi- 
cally, what is it that he understands by vulgarity of 



* Whatever may be Mr. Walsh's abilities, his assurance, in 
undertaking a task like this, is unexampled. It is the first time 
that a writer, seated at his desk four thousand miles frum the 
object of his researches, purposes not merely to describe the 
country which he never saw, and about which all foreign infor-* 
mation is contradictory, and in a peculiar degree deficient ; but, 
what is infinitely more difficult and in fact impossible, to give, 
from mere hearsay, all the particular springs, movements, vari* 
ations, and distinct features in the character of a people with 
whom he has had no personal acquaintance whatever. Are the 
Russians more known, easier comprehended, and studied at a 
distance, than the French, to delineate whom, Mr. Walsh 
thought proper to pass several years with them I The truth is, 
at least 1 have reason to suspect it, that his object is not to rep- 
resent the Russians as they are : but as they ought to appear 
consistently with the doctrine of his friends, perhaps, also, the 
assurance of being supported and praised in the Edinburgh Re- 
view—of sharing as an author, Dr. Clarke's celebrity, — maj 
have had some influence on Mr. Walsh : but whether it be one 
or the other, I wish him joy upon the purity of his motives 1 



96 STRICTURES ON THE 

mind ? If it be a voluntary descent, or a temporary 
transition from high things to low ; it is only a recrea- 
tion, or if he pleases, the caprice of a mind which can 
reascend at pleasure ; for true greatness does not con- 
sist in avoiding what is low, but in attaining what is 
high in talents and virtue ; Shakspeare and Milton, for 
instance, were great poets, not because they never 
descended, but because their genius could soar to 
the very summit of excellence. If this vulgarity be 
a certain deteriorating quality, permanent and inhe- 
rent in the mind ; the possessor of such a mind can 
never rise to deeds of eminence, and must remain a 
mean grovelling animal. If it be an external contami- 
nation from any intercourse with the lower classes, it 
can only apply to manners, and not to the mind ; un- 
less Mr. Walsh will contend that the lower classes 
must necessarily be vicious, which he will scarcely at- 
tempt in a republican country. Now, it is evident 
that neither of these are applicable to Peter ; for he 
was capable of performing, and did perform, great ac- 
tions. Had he sacrificed his important duties to igno- 
ble employments, though he might excel in them, the 
reproach cast upon him would be deserved ; but this 
was not the case, as the same hands that handled the 
hatchet, wielded also the pen, the sceptre, the trident, 
and the truncheon, with equal ability. In all he did, 
he was still Peter the Great, and whatsoever he touch- 
ed, he ennobled it, instead of being himself corrupted 
by the touch. He stooped only to take up pearls in 
his way, or to separate gold from its dross ; and rose 
up to bring home his collected treasures. Like aft in- 
dustrious and vigilant bee, he visited every bush, and 
from every flower, whether highly esteemed or despis- 
ed, he collected honey, and returned laden with riches. 
Like the sun, he descended in the west, and like the 
sun, he reappeared in the east : and it is as easy to 
prove, that the god of day tarnishes his brightness by 
visiting the antipodes, as to maintain that Peter vilifi- 
ed his mind by visiting the workshops at Sardam, or 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 97 

Tower-hill in London. What then is the drift of Mr, 
Walsh's remark, and where its justness or utility ? 

The nest form in which Peter appears from the 
hands of Mr. Walsh, is that of a " domestic sove- 
reign," " sanguinary and despotical in the extreme — an 
utter stranger to clemency and forbearance." What 
virtue was it then, which made Peter forgive his sister, 
guilty of repeated crimes, each deserving death, and each 
making her far more culpable than was the unfortunate, 
persecuted Mary ? What virtue made him pardon the 
domestic assassins, who more than once attempted his 
life ? For shame, Mr. Walsh ! 

Mr. Walsh, however, has no shame, and still goes on. 
" His (Peter's) private amusements, were those of a mere 
barbarian, childish, fantastical, and oftentimes savagely 
cruel." If Mr. Walsh had better attended to, the Rus- 
sian " genius" and disposition, he might have found 
there many good and substantial reasons for some of 
Peter's amusements, and which were not quite so 
" childish and fantastical" as he thinks them ; as for his 
denouncing them further " as oftentimes savagely cru- 
el," Mr. Walsh says what is not true. Let him point 
them out : I challenge him to the proof. So far from 
this being the fact, Peter's principles of humanity were 
such as to prevent him even from hunting : and tho' he 
was not tyrant enough to forbid his subjects the pleas- 
ures of the chase ; yet it is certain that he never par- 
took of them himself. If Mr. Walsh is determined to 
believe every ridiculous story about Peter's diversions, 
he will only expose his own credulity, arising from 
weakness, or eagerness to sport with the memcry of 
Peter. 

But let Mr. Walsh be heard. " Had he, (Peter) re- 
alized the plan of universal empire, he would have 
been of all conquerors* the least entitled to repeat the 

* Here again the profound observer of the Russian " genius 
and disposition" mistakes entirely the character of Peter, and 
does not know, or affects not to know, that this sovereign was no 
conqueror in the sense he considers him, nor did he owe his 
greatness to the title of a conqueror. 



m STRICTURES ON THE 

fine line (nothing can be done without a quota- 
tion) which Corneille puts into the mouth of one of 
his heroes : 

' Je suis maitre de moi comme de rnnivers.' '* 

A sovereign who could check himself in a moment of 
rage, as Peter did, from committing an act,similar to that 
of Alexander the Great, cannot be said to have been no 
master of himself : but a sovereign who, not satisfied 
with having abstained from the act itself, and with the 
most humble apology for being tempted to it, confesses, 
as Peter did, his own faults, and the difficulty of reform- 
ing himself, is more than a master, in being the impartial 
judge, of himself. 

Still Mr. Walsh goes on. "I say nothing of the 
sort of character he (Peter) displayed in the persecution 
and destruction of his son Alexis, about which histori- 
ans differ little as to the details of perfidy and cruelty, 
however much Ihey may vary respecting the motives." 
But historians differ much about both, those only ex- 
cepted, who serve Mr. Walstvs purposes. He seems 
to be sensible of this, and in order to get over the diffi- 
culty, he denounces Voltaire, whose authority is against 
him, — though not to the extent it ought to be, — 
as " a mercenary writer r whose history of Peter is but a 
studied eulogy, which was prepared obsequiously, and 
for the gratification of Catherine, and has been rejected 
as an authority, by all those who have since treated of 
his reign." The reader will be astonished to know, 
that so far from that history being a studied eulogy, 
it is absolutely deficient in justice, and the Russian 
government^ as well as individuals, were, and are ex- 
tremely dissatisfied with it, as may be seen from an offi- 
cial correspondence* upon the subject. As an author- 
ity, it certainly is questionable,, though upon a very 
different ground from that which Mr.. Walsh has 

* The correspondence is published in my t6 Reflections, am! 
Original Anecdotes of Peter the Great." 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 9® 

assigned : it is still, however, the only one that 
has any pretensions to authenticity, the author having 
been furnished with original and official documents. 
As to other historians, who, as Mr. Walsh says, 
have rejected Voltaire's authority : they themselves 
ought to be the more rejected, as they had not the 
same opportunity and advantage of information. Mr. 
Walsh's preference of Levesque, as a Russian histo- 
rian, is not wonderful, considering the spirit which 
pervades both : but the claims of this favourite his- 
torian are not so sacred as his admirer makes them. 
Mr. Levesque is even more infected than Mr. Walsh 
with the disease of reasoning against facts : and sac- 
rifices without scruple, plain sense and truth to the 
shrewdness of thought, or the charm of originality. 
Of this, no other proof is needed, than his attempting 
to establish, merely from a conceit of his own brain, 
that the impostor Demetrius was the real prince De- 
metrius ; though the dead body of the prince was 
well identified, though the impostor's origin and 
previous condition were fully ascertained, and though 
all the Russian historians, whom Levesque pretends 
to have consulted, and from whom alone, in fact, he 
could have taken any of his materials, are unanimous 
in denouncing the false Demetrius,. 

What Mr, Walsh quotes from this historian, is of 
itself sufficient to condemn the one for the outra- 
geous novelty of his opinions, and the other for his 
unwarrantable adoption of them. -Vlf Peter had not 
reigned," says Mr, Walsh for Levesque, $ the Rus- 
sians would probably be with respect to civilization, 
what they are now, or perhaps better, What Peter 
did, was not 8 I conceive, in any degree tp civilize 
them himself, but to open and show them the road 
to civilization (even this is a great deal, and contra- 
dicts the first position ; for if Peter had not shown 
this road, the Russians would not be now what they 
are) into which they have entered and have continued 
to travel slowly and partially under his successors* * 5 



100 STRICTURES ON THE 

The contradiction throughout is quite obvious ; for, if 
travelling with all the advantages of accommodation 
provided since, proceeds but " slowly and partially," 
the first setting out without any road at all, was so 
difficult an attempt, that Peter alone had the courage 
to make it, and had he not made it, the Russians 
would have still remained as they were : for it is evi- 
dent his successors did not possess exactly the same 
bold and enterprizing spirit, capable of giving the first 
impulse. But Peter certainly did not stop here ; for, 
on inspecting the various institutions, tending to the 
improvement of the national mind, it will appear that 
he did " civilize his people himself," not in any de- 
gree, but in a very great degree. Mr. Walsh's at- 
tempting to support himself by the report of the commis- 
sioners in 1809, on the imperfections of the Russian 
code of laws, is quite out of place, as there is no nation, 
not even England herself, whose laws are perfect, or 
do not require alterations and ameliorations, as the 
change of circumstances takes place, and as the state 
of society and population advance. When it is further 
considered, that the civil institutions of Peter were es- 
tablished by him during a reign of constant toil and 
labour, and that he had to create the physical force of 
the country, and to organize the various systems so 
created, amidst the continual wars and large demands 
upon national resources ; it will not be doubted, that so 
far from Peter's not having done so much as he might 
have done, according to Mr. Walsh's inference, he 
had done more than anv sovereign or any mortal ev- 
er yet accomplished. There would be far more plau- 
sibility in saying that the Americans would have 
made themselves independent without Washington 
though not so soon perhaps ; than in supposing the 
Russians might have been what they are, " or perhaps 
better," had Peter never reigned. In one case, the 
people were determined to be free, and wanted only 
a leader to direct their energies ; in the other, the 
people were determined to be ignorant, and wanted a 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 101 

man, such as Peter, such as once only appeared in 
the world, not merely to remove the thick incrustations 
settled upon their minds, but to make them go like the 
tide against its own stream. If this operation be ea- 
sy, or if any other man, but Peter, has ever performed 
or could perform it ; let him be pointed out, and I 
shall confess Mr. Walsh is in the right. 

Mr. Walsh himself, however, acknowledges this 
difficulty in page 76 ; but instead of allowing Peter 
the merit of having overcome it even partially, he 
finds in it a proof of his demerits ; so that the 
whole of this characteristically candid and . consistent 
discussion, may be thus resolved : Mr. Walsh con- 
siders certain things impossible, then blames Peter for 
not going beyond them in his achievements, and sides 
with Levesque in the opinion that Peter left Russia 
nearly "the same as in the reign of his immediate prede- 
cessors." The conclusion is not less eccentric than the 
protestations of a certain woman, to the hour of her 
death, that Burgoyne's army never was captured : or 
than the reported belief of some of the Pennsylvania!! 
peasantry, that they are not now at war with Great 
Britain. If any person should now attempt to argue 
that Buonaparte never went to Russia, or that she nev- 
er drove the intruder out of her territory ; the absurdi- 
ty of the argument would not be more glaring than the 
idea of Peter's leaving Russia nearly " the same" as he 
found her. If Mr. Walsh is sincere in this opinion, 
how can he reconcile it to the one he expressed be- 
fore, that Peter's reign was " among the anomalies" in 
theRussian history ; in other words, that it was unlike in 
every respect, to that of his predecessors, and therefore 
productive of something unusual ? How can the ef- 
fects of his reign be " the same," and yet so totally un- 
like ? This palpable and habitual contradiction saves 
me the trouble of making out a list of what was actually 
done by Peter, or of what was not done before him ; but 
if Mr. Walsh should compel me to the task, I expect 
he will do the same with his Caesar, Henry VII. (whom 



W2 STRICTURES ON THE 

by the bye he seems chiefly to admire for fine sayings) 
and his Alfred : so that it may be quickly decided 
whether Peter was great only " as the czar of Russia," 
but no farther ; and that the world may judge between 
his heroes and mine, not from assertions or reasonings 
on either side, but from a plain statement of facts, 
from the magnitude, number, and real worth of deeds 
actually performed ; this being the true standard of 
greatness, neither impaired by faults, nor raised by fine 
sayings. But to recur to Levesque. 

Having pointed out the excessively absurd opinions of 
this pretender, ably commented upon, and turned in- 
to ridicule by Tsherbatow, Boltin, and other Russian 
historians of the first respectability, with whom Mr. 
Walsh is totally unacquainted, and perhaps thinks it im- 
possible for a Russian to be a historian ; I leave the 
readers to decide whether it was the erring head or the 
erring heart, that prompted Mr. Walsh to pronounce on 
this occasional favourite the following encomium : "Le- 
vesque (is) the most impartial, accurate, and judicious of 
the writers of Russian history." My complacency to- 
wards the readers and Mr, Walsh himself, is however 
of no avail, for he leaves them no room for doubt or 
choice, but compels them himself to one unanimous de- 
cision, by the following opinion which he expressed of 
Levesque on another occasion, in the 5th number of 
the American Review, page 28 : " We could not read 
this work (Levesque's history of the Roman republic) 
with any degree of patience, nor can we speak of it 
without indignation. In point of literary execution it 
is below mediocrity, and in spirit detestable. With a 
view of recommending himself to his government, 
probably at its instigation, he has attempted to falsify 
the records of the republican era of Rome, and to black- 
en the reputation of the illustrious champions of Ro- 
man freedom." Observe how well, how much better 
than myself, Mr. Walsh understands and describes this 
historian when Russia is not the object of injustice. 
Mr, Walsh cannot reconcile this condemnation with his 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 105 

former praise on the ground that both were limited to 
two distinct works ; for an historian that has in one 
instance told a deliberate falsehood; deserves no credit 
in any other instance whatever. Besides, the qualities 
for which Levesque was praised with respect to Rus- 
sia, such as judgment, accuracy, and impartiality, are 
generally and permanently supposed to belong to the 
historian himself, and not to any of his works : if lie 
has these qualities, they cannot entirely quit him on 
one occasion, and return to him on another ; but if 
they do not more or less follow him in all his under- 
takings, it is a sign, it is a sure proof he does not 
possess them, and the praise bestowed on him is inte- 
rested and meretricious, On the other hand, the bad 
qualities of an historian, his constant companions,are ev- 
ery where visible ; and he can no more divest himself 
of them with respect to one, than with respect to anoth- 
er subject. Accordingly, the same wayward course, 
the same lust of originality, the same spirit " to black- 
en the reputation'''' of great men, and the same propensity 
to falsify the very records he is consulting, distin- 
guish Levesque in his Roman, as well as in his Rus- 
sian history : nay, the prevailing motives are the same,, 
for, France being the systematic enemy of Russia, ac- 
cording to Mr. Walsh's own confession and quotations 
in the correspondence, Levesque, by vilifying the au- 
thor of the offensive Russian grandeur, expected to 
gratify the French government, and probably wrote one 
history as well as the other, at its instigation. 

But I will say no more upon this subject, particu- 
larly as I have already in anticipation, furnished in 
" the anecdotes of Peter the Great," a complete refu- 
tation of all that Mr. Walsh has since advanced against 
a monarch, whom the judicious Mr. Harper has 
pronounced the greatest in the world : I say, 
complete refutation, because no candid man T who has 
perused them, can agree with Mr. Walsh in a single 
sentiment tending to disparage the merits of Peter. If 
Mr. Walsh has not consulted this testimony, his pro- 



104 STRICTURES ON THE 

fessions of collecting every information concerning Rus- 
sia, are not sincere ; but if he has perused it, his re- 
jection of it shews that the Russians are the only peo- 
ple whom he will not hear upon their own affairs, or 
m their own defence ; and thus makes them an 
exception to the common privileges of all mankind. 
As I only interpreted the respectable Russian histori- 
ans, he has either done Peter injustice for the sake of 
vilifying them, or vilified them for the sake of doing 
Peter still greater injustice. Whatever he may think 
of the literary part of the work, he has no right to 
reject, without sufficient reasons, the historical part of 
it — that part which supplies the glaring deficiency of 
foreign history, and is the only one intended to collect 
and bring together the various traits of Peter's charac- 
ter, in such a manner as to give a better and more accu- 
rate knowledge of the man, hitherto known only as an 
emperor, statesman, and general. It is true, on the 
score of reputation as an author, I have no great pledg- 
es to offer ; but talents are not indispensable, where the 
statement of truth is the only object ; and as an honest 
man, I hope my claims are fair and sufficient to rescue 
my veracity from suspicion. It is time Mr. Walsh 
should do me some justice, as the events have proved, 
I am not a dreamer, or dealer in stories, though it is 
plain, he and his friends have considered me as such ; 
neither have my reasonings and inferences, extravagant 
as they may have been pronounced, been so fallacious 
as to deprive me of all credit. When, therefore, rely- 
ing only on the usual indulgence to unintentional and 
partial mistakes, I have pledged my honour in my 
name, for the general truth of my statements, illustra- 
ting Peter's character, all taken from the most respecta- 
ble and authentic sources now in my possession, and 
ready to be brought forward whenever they should be 
demanded ; I appeal to the well known candour of the 
American public, whether I ought not to expect a better 
reason for being disbelieved and rejected, than a mere 
self-willed preference of foreign historians, whose silence 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 105 

or wilful suppression cannot be said to contradict me, 
and who, after all, must have drawn their knowledge 
from the original Russian authorities, and communica- 
ted it, much disfigured by passing through the medium 
of their own impaired optics. What would Mr. Walsh 
say himself, if I should contend for the superiority of 
Parkinson and others, in point of authenticity, over the 
native authorities on subjects connected with America ? 
Is the danger of exaggeration from national partiality, 
easily detected, greater than the danger of misrepresen- 
tation from foreign prejudice ? And can Mr. Walsh 
while professing the ardour of investigating the political 
and moral character of Russia, refuse her the trouble 
even of listening to her own voice ; this too after 
repeated conviction, with regard to his own coun- 
try, that the voice of foreigners is the least entitled to be 
heard ? Unless, then, Mr. Walsh is preparing to main- 
tain that every Russian is a deliberate fabricator of 
falsehood, a stranger to probity, and dead to every sense 
of honour, the unredeemed son of ignorance, an animal 
in whom the crimes of a barbarian, and the vices of an 
European, are united, to the exclusion of every good 
quality ; unless Mr. Walsh maintains and demonstrates 
all this, he cannot, and I insist, he ought not to reject in 
me the authority of Russian historians ; nor will I 
hereafter trouble myself with any replication to any of 
his strictures on myself, if he should make them, until he 
has disproved all the facts I have stated concerning Peter 
the Great, to do which, I give him this public challenge. 
Mr. Walsh asserts that Peter's drift was " to make 
Russia powerful rather than enlightened or happy." Is 
this true ? Is Mr. W r alsh a better judge, than the Rus- 
sians, of their own happiness ? When the oldest of them 
who have seen Peter living and served him, (a few of 
them are still to be found) shed tears of sorrow whenev- 
er his name is mentioned, do they deplore in him the 
original author of their glory or of their happiness ? 
When his death filled the palace with the frenzy of 

grief, and the whole empire with lamentation^ " our 
o 



106 STRICTURES ON THE 

father," breaking out from more than fifteen millions of 
tongues ; was this the proof that he was a domestic, or 
that he was a public tyrant ? But Mr. Walsh is above 
attending to these trifling testimonies of nature, though 
it is from such testimonies only, that he can form a cor- 
rect idea of the princes and the people, on whose mentis 
he presumes to decide : I will however again bring 
him against himself. According to his own admis- 
sion, Peter at least paved the way, or opened the road to 
that prosperity which has been growing ever since, and 
is ta make Russia, in Mr. Walsh's opinion, a very great 
and dangerous power hereafter : now, prosperity like 
this, implies solidity, and who ever heard of solid pros- 
perity without happiness ? Charles XII. and Buona- 
parte come exactly within Mr. Walsh's definition, as 
both have laboured to make their empires great and 
splendid, at the expense of real national happiness : and 
the ruinous consequences, with regard to Sweden, are 
alreadv realized, and with regard to France, may be so 
at no distant time. The opposite situation, therefore, 
of Russia, attests sufficiently that Peter must have made 
her happv as well as great. It being a notorious truth, 
known almost to every schoolboy, that Peter laboured 
chiefly to introduce arts, sciences, and commerce into 
his country, (whereby he widely differs from Mr. 
Walsh's conquerors), and that even his conquests were 
all subservient to this great and desirable end ; Mr. 
Walsh, before he can make his assertion good, that ag- 
grandizement, and not happiness, was Peter's object, 
must prove that arts, sciences, and commerce, are not 
the sources of national happiness, and point out other 
and better substitutes. 

Mr. Walsh compares Peter's supposed government 
to that of Catherine, and talks pretty freely about 
" the knout, the battogues, and the cudgel" as be- 
ing * used as liberally during her reign as before, andby 
no means confined to the lower orders." Now Mr. 
Walsh ought to know, that it is only for the offences, for 
which a man is hanged in England, shot in France, and 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 107 

confined for life (sometimes hanged too) in America,that 
the knout is given in Russia. Gentlemen of refinement 
may possibly prefer the gallows to the knout : but they 
must bear this disappointment with patience, as there 
are no gallows in Russia, and no death inflicted, unless 
they choose to become their own executioners. It 
would, however, puzzle Mr. Walsh exceedingly, to 
find a Russian subject, not of the lowest order, exposed 
to the knout, cudgel, or the battogues, in any instance 
whatever : for he is exempted by law from ail corpore- 
al puriishment, and, even for a capital offence, suffers 
only the confiscation of property, privation of all titles 
and honours, imprisonment, and exile. This may serve 
as a specimen of the barbarous Russian code, as com- 
mented upon by the profound Dr. Clarke, who must 
feel a little angry at seeing his reflections first proscrib- 
ed, and then purloined bv the same unconscionable Mr. 
Walsh. 

Mr. Walsh's turbinating movements of PagatchefF, 
which remind me of Descartes's celebrated system of 
Tourbiflons, (whirlwinds in plain English,) and from 
which he draws conclusions against the instability of the 
Russian throne " on the side of the populace," establish 
on the contrary its solidity, and prove my former asser- 
tion, that usurpers and upstarts were never tolerated in 
Russia ; for Pagatcheff turbinated only because he 
passed himself for Peter III., and was detruncated, as 
soon as his imposture was discovered ; for he, though 
of the lowest order, was so refined and preeminent in 
crime, as to deserve the glorious exemption of being 
executed. Now, the populace, which at the mere 
name of a lawful sovereign, ranges itself under his sup- 
posed standard, is no feeble support of the throne : 
and this is so plain, that Mr. Walsh, who seldom forgets 
to refnte himself, for he is not so hardened yet as to re^ 
sist always the solicitations of truth, asserts in terms pre- 
cluding all evasion, (page 69) that, amidst the various 
commotions endangering the safety of the Russian ru- 
lers, the Russian u throne, with all its evil and deformi- 
ty, has remained unassailed and impregnable. "" 



108 STRICTURES ON THE 

Changing his forms and characters with true Protean 
felicity, Mr. Walsh appears now in a farmer's smock- 
frock, and dilates upon the Russian agriculture with the 
same practical skill as did Mr. Parkinson on the differ- 
ent qualities of the American soil. Unless Mr. Walsh 
has borrowed his agricultural knowledge of Russia from 
that heaven. born genius Dr. Clarke, who, as he passes 
through Russia with the swiftness of a murderer's ghost 
pursued by a lash of scorpions, describes minutely the 
fruitfulness and variegated face of the country, covered 
with deep snow ; unless, I say, Mr. Walsh has bor- 
rowed his knowledge from a man, who, as he was cir- 
cumstanced, could only acquire and impart it by inspi- 
ration : I refer him to the authority,-— which he will deem 
conclusive,— of Napoleon him self, in his progressive bul- 
letins ; in doing which,I only follow Mr. Walsh'sexample 
in using SirR. Wilson's authority, which he denies,and yet 
quotes in his own favour. If he should still be dissatisfied, 
I refer him to the statement in the "Resources of Russia," 
by which he will find the surplus produce of the Rus- 
sian soil to exceed that of every other country in the 
known world. A nation, whose agricultural produce is 
so much greater than that of any other, cannot be said to 
be deficient in agriculture ; and a greater improvement 
of cultivation, or extension of artificial means, in Eng- 
land, argues only the necessity to which Russia has not 
yet been reduced, and proves nothing in the aggregate, 
except that Russia, with less expense and labour, enjoys 
superior benefits from her agriculture, 

Mr. Walsh follows the beaten track, and talks like 
his predecessors about the Russian cerfs or slaves, with- 
out considering that the extreme ignorance of foreigners 
of the true nature of these cerfs, has been sufficiently 
exposed by the late invasion. The French government, 
so cunning in other respects, has fallen into the same 
comman error, and expiated it by the sacrifice of an ar- 
my, like which nothing was ever known before. Ought 
not thistoexcite some suspicions in Mr. Walsh ? Ought 
not he begin to think that these cerfs view their own sit- 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 109 

nation not exactly as he does ? Or is he prepared to as- 
seit with his friend Whitbread, that their loyalty in de- 
fending their country was forced by the despotism of 
the government ? This seems to be the ground he has 
taken, notwithstanding his own disavowal of despot- 
ick power in the Russian princes ; for he still 
speaks of corruption in Russia — corruption in a 
country which alone, as recent experience proved, 
has withstood corruption ! ! !* (when I say alone, 
I mean not to except even England, in whose bosom 
much disloyalty is lodged, and a great deal of it has 
been hatched under the wings of the Edinburgh Re- 
viewersf ). Mr. Walsh, and his friend Whitbread, no 



* When Mr. Walsh speaks of corruption, and intimates the 
want of loyalty or character in the Russians, after what has hap- 
pened, his object, warranted by the whole tenor of his corres- 
pondence, is to show that the extraordinary Russian patriotism, 
unmatched by that of any people whatever, has been only tem- 
porary, transient, and accidental, and that it must soon relax, 
and be — what it never was — a mere nothing. I cannot, there- 
fore, envy Mr. Walsh his knowledge of human nature — of the 
natural and social state of man — when he thinks that the concep- 
tion, organization, and extension of such a gigantic system of 
defence, as was adopted by Russia — a system whose final suc- 
cess required to be preceded by enormous and painful sacrifices, 
persevering courage, and unyielding efforts, made and protracted 
to the utmost stretch of human strength and patience, — could ever 
emanate from causes that were not permanent, prosecuted with 
energy which was occasional, and accomplished by dint of loyal- 
ty, whose birth was so ephemeral. 

f I have said, in my " Resources of Russia, that the cerfs 
form some of the best Russian soldiers : the events bear me 
out, and Mr. Walsh acknowledges this, perhaps without sus- 
pecting it, when, in stating the proportion of cerfs to free peas- 
ants, he makes the former superior in number. I have also 
compared the Russian cerf to the English " tenant for life," a 
term which has been objected to ; I therefore take this opportu- 
nity to explain, that the substance, and not the name, was the 
object of my comparison. The term was chosen only, because 
it came nearest to my meaning ; and there was no "other that 
could convey a better idea to the English reader, of the condi- 
tion of a Russian cerf, so constantly misunderstood by strangers. 
When I called, and call him still « tenant for life;" I mean only 
to express that peculiar obligation which attaches him to the 



iw STRICTURES ON THE 

doubt, recollect, or ought to recollect, how the whole 
mass of peasantry, wherever the enemy passed, and even 



soil till death, without subjecting his life, property, and morals 
to the will of his master ; and thus makes his situation, when 
compaved with that of a real slave, far more enviable, than i3 
the situation, when compared with his own, of the English ten- 
ant for life. I certainly do not intend to do away the difference 
between becoming a tenant for life, by agreement, as in England, 
and by the force of law, as in Russia ; but this can be no re- 
proach to the Russian government, which, while other govern- 
ments, though free themselves, tolerate real slavery in the worst 
and least qualified state, is unremittingly employed in the grad- 
ual abolition of mitigated and apparent slavery at home. This 
object would probably have been already accomplished, were it 
not for the well founded, fear of precipitation, which might and 
certainly would, as former experience has proved, endanger the 
safety of the empire. 

I am no advocate for slavery in any form, nor do I possess any 
slaves inRussia ; but I would deem it my sacred duty to raise my 
voice against its abolition, as long as there is no othe* link of 
interest, (which commerce is now gradually introducing) to 
preserve the chain connecting the whole community, and to 
serve as a substitute for that obligatory force which at present 
forms the main strength of the empire. To an attentive obser- 
ver (different from Dr. Clarke) of the peculiar construction of 
the interior parts of Russia, this is a self-evident truth, which if 
necessary, I could illustrate by arguments far more conclusive 
than the exigency of avarice, urged in favour of the sale of ne- 
groes. Such is the extent of the Russian empire, the fertility 
of the soil, the natural propensity of man to idleness, the vacan- 
cy of land, the absence of exclusive proprietorship in remote 
and uninhabited places, and the consequent facility of new set- 
tlements ; that the moment of general emancipation, unless 
some other powerful motive is created to keep the individuals 
together, would be a signal for general dispersion, disastrous 
and fatal to the resources of the country. This is no hypothe- 
sis, but an absolute fact, proved by the superior industry of the 
cerfs over that of free peasants : to such a degree, that a Rus- 
sian (not foreign) traveller, on approaching an unknown village, 
can safely tell, from the rich or poor appearance of its farms, 
whether its inhabitants are cerfs, or free peasants. The former 
are disciplined into the habits of industry, and produce more 
than they consume, in order to supply the wants of their mas- 
ters : the latter produce only what they consume, having neither 
the excitement of some leading interest, nor the force of disci- 
pline, to check their love of ease and pleasure. It is a solemn 
truth, that many of these suffering miserable slaves, as for- 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 1 1 1 

women themselves, rose against him, and fought with- 
out any assistance, but arms, from the government : 
now,this is enthusiasm ; and enthusiasm is incompatible 
with force : it can only be regulated, cannot be com- 
manded into existence. It is so tender a plant, that 
though skill may help its growth, and improve its 
strength ; the slightest touch of violence in an instant 
destroys it. Force is its death and annihilation, and its 
life is the absence of force. It follows, that, where 
dwells loyalty, there can be no unhappiness ; where 
there is no unhappiness, there can be no slavery, which 
is unhappiness itself : when, therefore, Mr. Walsh and 
Mr. Whitbread launch out in wild conjecture about the 
Russian slaves, the best answer I can give them, is that 
which the swords of these slaves has carved out upon the 
backs of their invaders. 

With regard to a peculiar class of free peasants, called 
odnodvortzi, with whom Mr. Walsh seems, if possible, 
stiil less acquainted, and whom like the cerfs, he at- 
tempts with a stroke of the pen, to deprive of every sen- 
timent of honour ; I refer him for better information, 



eigners affect to consider them, are exceedingly rich and pros- 
perous, being opulent merchants, manufacturers, and extensive 
traders : and what more ought to put Mr. Walsh on his 
guard, whenever he speaks of them, they have often refu- 
sed to purchase their freedom, when it was offered to 
them by their masters on very cheap terms. In the instance of 
count Sheremetieff, the greatest landholder in Russia, and the 
richest individual in Europe, they have offered to lend him the 
money which he demanded as the price of their freedom, 
rather than quit his mastership. This experiment was made by 
the count, purposely to convince a distinguished, but not distin- 
guishing foreigner, who, while at his table, spoke of the Russian 
cerfs with the same knowledge of their true state as Mr. Walsh 
evinces. Mr. Walsh may therefore wonder at, denounce, or pity 
their stupidity in being enamoured of their chains, but he can- 
not thence argue their unhappiness. If he should attempt to 
explain it by the strength of habit or prejudice ; it will appear 
that the enjoyment of prejudice is a great portion of human 
huppiness, and is an additional reason why the government 
should be slow and cautious in the measures of general eman- 
cipation. 



1 1 i STRICTURES ON THE 

to the English merchants resident at St. Petersburg^ 
They will tell him that both classes cherish the same 
sentiment of honour on the exchange, as they have evin- 
ced on the field of battle. And as comparisons are 
among the best means of illustration, I refer him to the 
American merchants, for the superior honour and integ- 
rity which mark the commercial transactions of modern 
France, where the example of government has not been 
lost upon the higly polished individuals. 

Mr. Walsh, with much ingenuity, contrasts the od- 
nodvortzi with the cerfs, in such a manner, as to pro- 
duce the impression, that the proportion of free cultiva- 
tors to cerfs, is as 110,000 to 18,000,000, which out of 
the population of 38,000,000, (the whole amount, erro- 
neously stated b}' him,) deducting the classes of nobili- 
ty, clergy, and merchants, leaves the entire mass of the 
people in one universal state of slavery ; this is as far 
from truth, as darkness is from light ; for odnodvortzi 
form an independent and peculiar class by themselves, 
resembling the English squires, like whom, they live on 
the estates allotted to them for their former attendance 
upon the knights or the ancient Boyars of Russia, having 
since increased their original number by the occasional 
and voluntary accession of the poorer descendants of 
the Boyars themselves. Odnodvortzi are, in fact, a 
class, the least numerous among the free cultivators, and 
the whole mass of peasantry is divided into free peas- 
ants and cerfs, of whom the former constitute near 
one half ; Mr. Walsh, therefore, must plead his total 
ignorance of the subject, or the miserable incompetence 
of his foreign authorities, if he wishes to avoid the impu- 
tation of a premeditated design to pervert truth. 

I take this opportunity of recommending to him, when 
he speaks of Russia,to be a little more intelligible, and to 
translate into plain English such words as Boulemia y 
which I confess, is beyond my comprehension ; also, 
whenever he introduces such travellers as Chappe 
d'Hauteroche, to inquire a little in what estimation they 
are held by the learned men of Russia, for she is not 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 1 13 

quite destitute of such men, wondrous and incredible as 
it may appear to him. Finally, I take the liberty to in- 
form him, that the word steppes does not mean salt de- 
serts, but an extensive plain, or a wide tract of land, un- 
inhabited and without forests ; and that the city of 
Irkutsk, having only 15,000 inhabitants, cannot be 
" greater" than Tobolisk, which contains 20,000 souls. 
It remains now to say a few words upon what I con- 
sider the pith of Mr. Walsh's letters : the danger of the 
future ambition of Russia. As soon as I perceived the 
precious essence which I was labouring to extract, I 
was irresistibly impelled to ask myself, is, then, 

the lion dead ? is the monster destroyed ? Here 

my unruly imagination, starting backward, in spite 
of every check, instantly carried me to the cave 
of Polyphemus. I saw Ulysses there, plotting a- 
gainst the sleeping giant ; and I heard one of his com- 
panions say to another, " we must not kill Polyphemus, 
for Ulysses may grow hereafter bigger than Polyphemus 
himself, and will not fail to devour us all without mer- " 
cy." " Simpleton !" replied the other, " let us get rid 
of the present evil first, and leave the rest to chance 
and time. Ulysses may not grow quite so big, and if 
he does, he will . take so much time in growing, 
that we may still elude his clutches. The appetite of 
Polyphemus is of a more devouring nature : it spares 
nothing, is never satisfied, and the more it destroys, the 
more it seeks to destroy : it has a double edge too, one 
for food, the other for amusement : now we are sure 
thatUlysses is not quite so voracious : his wants are bet- 
ter regulated, his taste is more simple, and his palate re- 
jects at least some kinds of food : he eats only when he 
is hungry, and keeps a more regular table. Besides, 
without Ulysses, we cannot get rid of the monster : 
and though Ulysses labours for his own safety, ours is 
still more dependent on his success ; for, being the 
strongest, and the ablest of us all, he will be de- 
voured last, and may perhaps escape altogether ; 

while we are sure of being swallowed, even without the 
p 



U4 STRICTURES ON THE 

preparation of cooking. You sec, therefore, that wc 
ought to be even grateful to him for our own sakes ; 
and if he formerly made a little free with his neigh- 
bours, we ought to forget it, particularly as he never 
bioke their bones, but was contented with a slice of 
their flesh. If our comrades should hear you, and adopt 
your sentiments, our union, now so necessary, will be 
destroyed, and our ruin is certain : therefore whatev- 
er you may think, keep it to yourself, this being the 
very worst time imaginable for you to raise a voice 
of dissension." This answer was approved, and I re- 
turned to ruminate on Mr. Walsh's correspondence, in- 
dulging myself now and then with a soliloquy, and 
exclaiming, what are Mr. Walsh's pretensions ? what 
can be his motives ? what is his object ?* 

When a writer undertakes to speculate upon futu- 
rity, and to trace on the map of time the course of a great 
nation, expecting that he would carry the public mind 
along with him : he ought at least to have given some 

* I have already intimated that the singular and happiest fea- 
ture in Mr. Walsh's present conduct is his spending the whole 
strength of his virulence upon the only country, of which the 
Americans, collectively or individually, have had no reason what- 
ever to complain ; and which, if Mr. Walsh is sincere in hrs 
wishes for the downfal of the French colossus, is the only one 
that can claim from him some acknowledgement for what she 
has done, and at least some forbearance and indulgence, suppo- 
sing she stood in need of any This is not all. If Mr. Walsh 
could make his sentiments popular and generally adopted in Eu- 
rope ; if, for instance, he could persuade Prussia that she is des- 
tined to be a " Russian province," and Austria that she is to be 
overwhelmed the moment that the power of France is reduced ; 
the coalition would be immediately dissolved, all union destroy- 
ed, and the French power left greater than ever ; for neither 
Prussia nor Austria would shed their blood merely to get 
another master much worse than the present^ — being, as Mr. 
Walsh will have it, a downright barbarian, atrocious in the ex- 
treme, — very unlike the gentle, beautiful, polished Buonaparte, 
of gigantic mind and "fortitude of soul never surpassed" ! ! ! It is 
therefore evident that the most devoted slave of Buonaparte could 
not broach a doctrine more favourable to his master's interests 
than the one Mr. Walsh has now embraced with all the zeal 
of an enthusiast bent on making proselytes. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 1 13 

pledge of his past correctness, and some security, that 
those who may place their confidence in his foresight 
may not be deceived. It is not to be expected, that 
any writer, unless inspired from above, can foretell eve- 
ry thing with certainty ; but the mistakes into which he 
necessarily falls, must be redeemed by some prominent 
truths and leading events verifying- the most essential 
parts of his predictions : else he cannot with any sem- 
blance of propriety, set up a public claim to divina- 
tion. What is Mr. Walsh's claim in this particular ? 
The very subject of which lie treats, and proposes far- 
ther to treat, is that in particular, on which he has 
been mistaken, scarcely with one exception. His re^ 
marks on the means and energies of Russia, in his letter 
on the s< genius of the French government" — in which 
remarks I instantly recognized the sentiments of the 
Foxites or Edinburgh Reviewers, and, in substance, 
the veryJanguage of the Morning Chronicle — show him 
not only deficient in knowledge, with respect to Rus- 
sia, and convict him, by every succeeding event, of fallacy 
in his statements, reasonings, and anticipations ; but, 
what militates still more against his claim, they show 
him unrepentant, uninstructed by experience, and obsti- 
nately persevering in the same illusive doctrine. So 
early as the time referred to, he was already enslaved 
by prejudices borrowed from the English opposition- 
party, with whom he unfortunately associated, and by a 
certain system of his own creation, so far as to betray the 
same want of candour which he has since displayed with 
Out even a blush : for, in drawing a comparison 
between the military prowess of France, and that of 
Russia, he stated only such battles as were in favour of 
the former, and studiously, and therefore intentionally, 
suppressed all such as were in favour of the latter. I 
flattered myself, however, that in all this, there was less 
ill will than weakness, arising from an extreme desire to 
establish a favourite system ; and Mr, Walsh must be 
sensible of my delicacy towards him, since I have care- 
fully foreborn to remind him of his abberrations, though 



IK STRICTURES ON THE 

to do so, in treating of the subjects which continually 
brought me into contact with him, I felt myself more 
than once very strongly tempted. 

With regard to France, Mr, Walsh's claim is scarce- 
ly less questionable. It is true, that here, no longer 
confiding in others, he trusts himself, inspects every 
thing with his own eyes ; and, in matters of fact, dis- 
plays extensive knowledge, uncommon information, 
acuteness of research, a preeminence of industry, and 
felicity of selection : but the moment he quits these, 
and attempts to convert the real causes into ideal effects, 
precisely the point on which his claim now is to be tri- 
ed, he loses himself in an ocean of uncertainty, steers no 
settled course, and arrives at any port, but the one of 
original destination. From his own clear facts, and 
able premises, he draws altogether opposite conclu- 
sions ; and from the very oppression, tyranny, fiscal 
burthens, stagnation of commerce, and the consequent 
reduction of resources, so well observed by him, and so 
well described, he deducts the national grandeur and 
power of France, and predicts (among other things, not 
quite realized)her subjugation of theSpaniards. He deline- 
ates her horrible system of conscription with unsparing 
accuracy : yet, on this very system, fixes her invinci- 
bility and irresistibility, forgetting, that a temporary 
paroxysm of madness, though outrageous in the ex- 
treme, obnoxious to the bystanders, and scarcely to be 
restrained by any external force, leaves the patient, in 
the end, proportionably weak, weary, and exhausted. 
If Mr. Walsh is not already sensible of this truth, he 
may be soon made so ; and his pretensions to unveil 
futurity, not established by the past, or the present, 
will be totally done away by what is likely to happen 
at no distant period of time. One would suppose that 
predictions escape his lips or pen, only to be falsified by 
every arrival from Europe, and scarcely had his first let, 
ter made its appearance, than a torrent of fresh events 
deformed all its features, and left that of his opponent 
a firm and conspicuous rock of triumph. When will 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 1 WT 

Mr. Walsh learn prudence? If he aspires to be a Burke in 
eloquence, why seek to be a Duane in prophecies ? 

From the above exposition, we may therefore, with 
some safety, infer that Mr. Walsh's present motives are 
ill will towards Russia for having pulled down his mag- 
nificent edifice of French irresistibility ; pride* and re- 
venge, the one flattering him with the prospect, and 
the other urging him to the attempt, of destroying 
any favourable opinion, which the successful struggle 
of the Russians might have created here of their na- 
tional character : a desire to retrieve his own reputa- 
tion for sagacity, and to redeem his former opinions 
from error, by the welcome opportunity which pre- 
sented itself in the temporary and seeming recovery 
of Buonaparte from his fall ; and finally, habitual ob- 
sequiousness to his Caledonian masters, which in the 
perversion of a mind such as Mr. Walsh possesses, 
furnishes, though to my great regret, the most strik- 
ing proof of that corruptive, debilitating, and pestife- 
rous influence which I have ascribed to the Edin- 
burgh Reviewers. 

As to any particular object Mr. Walsh may have 
had in view, it is impossible, without his own expla- 
nation, to find it out, unless it be confounded with 
his motives. I am inclined to think he has no object 
at all, beyond the mere gratification of the feelings 
which I have surmised ; unless it be to bring one 
nation after another, under the operation of his 
merciless lash. Indeed, if I were in a mood of ex- 
travagant merriment, I should say, Mr. Walsh, 
like Tom Thumb the Great, of giant-killing memo- 
ry, brandishes his mighty sword in air, strikes here, 



* To these perhaps, ought to be added, the -vanity of author- 
shifi, the more unpardonable, as Mr. Walsh has been almost sur- 
feited with praise ; and as he evidently attempts to conceal his 
own inordinate desire of appearing again before the public, un- 
der the importance of Mr. Harper's speech, (which was already 
published,) and letter, which formed so small a portion of 
the correspondence, that Mr. Walsh, taking advantage of the 
title, expected to have all the conversation to himself. 



1 18 STRICTURES ON THE 

hits there, spares none, mounts the back of Buona- 
parte, sticks his spurs in the sides of the Russian 
bear, makes this last breakfast upon Prussia, and dine 
upon Austria ; devours the huge animal himself, 
slashes, cuts, stabs, kills, bestrews the stage with 
kings, queens, lords, ladies, all slain, hacked, man- 
gled : and what is to be his own exit, or where he 
is to stop, is known only to himself and the god 
that prompts him to such deeds of desperation ! ! 

I am however inclined, without being quite so 
merry, to illustrate further the comparison which I 
have already made between jMr, Walsh's political 
course, and that of the prodjgai son. 

He confesses, much to his credit, that, on Ms arri- 
val in England, he shook off the fetters of democracy ; 
but though he did much in getting- rid of an old habit, 
he was not aware, perhaps, that he only changed the 
name when be put on the fetters of the opposition. 
It is possible that, besides the causes which I have 
explained in my " Reply to the Edinburgh Review- 
ers," he may have been influenced by the greater con- 
descension of the opposition-men to strangers, and by 
the comparative haughtiness of the government party j 
but still his adherence to the doctrines of the former, 
--^doctrines which they themselves know to be false, and 
abjure them as soon as they find them to have answered 
their purpose,— even after he had quittedEngland,and af- 
ter time and distance must have blunted the sense of 
past incivility, or want of attention, if he experienced 
any, — leave him liable to the construction of a less fa- 
vourable nature. Filled with borrowed and per- 
verse political notions, he starts by depreciating the 
resources and character of Russia, and by exalting 
those of France to the very height of invinci- 
bility and irresistibility ; then, after travelling from 
one stumbling block to another, repenting and 
relapsing, he finishes, at length, by preaching the 
dangerous power of Russia, and the probable prostra- 
tion of France under her feet : that is, he places himself 
exactly in the same situation in relation to himself, as is 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 11* 

the southern to the northern pole. His interme- 
diate coarse has also had its veerings, variations, and 
opposite points. He threatens the world with the 
domestic and external mutability of the Russian gov- 
ernment, and at the same time with its undeviating 
constancy and perseverance in a policy hostile to France. 
The inability oi Russia to command all her means, 
which he supports by the numerical inferiority of her 
armies, he also converts into the ability of doing 
more mischief than France; who,according to him, can, 
and always has, brought all her means into operation, 
which is unquestionably true. From his manner of 
alluding to Iwan, Peter, and Catherine, he seems to 
hold to public reprobation, and fears the great des- 
potical power of the Russian princes : yet appre- 
hends the chiei danger, from their want of despotical 
pozver, such as Buonaparte possesses, and their conse- 
quent dependence on the character of a people seeking 
aggrandizement ! ! 

\\ the first part of the last contradictory position be 
right, the second is wrong ; and if the second be right, 
there can be no danger : for, with the exception of the 
primitive Romans forming a handful of robbers and 
plunderers by profession, there has been no people who 
sought wars, conquests, and aggrandizement by pref- 
erence, and in opposition to their government. Some 
savage hordes of Goths and Vandals, may have done 
so from hunger, and other wants at home ; but this is 
an instinct which cannot belong to a people regularly 
organized, progressing in civilization, and abounding 
at home in all the necessaries and luxuries of life. 
Peace is the natural propensity of man, allied closely to 
the love of ease and pleasure ; but war is always a, 
forced impulse, originating in necessity, and with re- 
spect to the people themselves, is never reconciled to 
their free choice, even by a long habit : in fact it is 
caused by the very hatred of itself, being only an ef- 
fort to avenge the interruption, or recover the lost en- 
jo\ ment,of peace. Wars have been generally, and with 
reason, placed to the account of governments and sin- 



120 STRICTURES ON THE 

gle rulers ; and as long as these find it for their interest 
to study the happiness of their subjects, as has been 
preeminently the case with the Russian princes, from 
the time of Peter to the present reign, — notwithstand- 
ing Mr. Walsh's assertion to the contrary, — the danger 
of aggression cannot be such as he affects to contemplate. 

If Mr. Walsh reasons only as a severe moralist, not 
allowing that a nation without ambition is like a body 
without a soul ; and that it is as easy for him to ex- 
clude that ambition as to annihilate the passions of an 
individual : he must condemn every nation on earth, 
for every nation has made occasional conquests, from 
imperial France to the republican states of America, 
whose rulers, though but young beginners, have no ob- 
jection to put on the conqueror's boots, and to march 
to Florida or Canada. These are not the times of meta- 
physics and Kantean philosophy, according to which na- 
tions are to be perfectly innocent, to live in constant 
harmony, mild and peaceful as the wolf and lamb sleep- 
ing together, and mankind in general, are to grow less 
quarrelsome, as their wants multiply (a little against na- 
ture, but philosophy has peculiar privileges) : neither 
can nations be changed by mere talking, any more than 
individuals, some of whom, according to the system of 
a certain modern sage, are to forego sordid commerce, 
to live upon the roots of the earth, and flourish in all 
their naked majesty, the lords of the ocean, which they 
would be doomed never to cross, and sovereigns of the 
forests and deserts, where, associated with the rest of the 
wild inhabitants, they might exhibit to the world a noble 
example of independence, civilization, and refinement ! I 

But, if Mr. Walsh speaks, as a statesman, of nations as 
they are, and always have been, not as what they ought 
to be, as they never have been, and never can ; the only 
consideration then is, whether the ambition of one nation 
is better or worse regulated, induced by stronger or 
weaker motives of excitement, and more or less fatal 
in its tendency to others, than the ambition of another : 
let us then for a moment take this view of France and 
Russia. 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 121 

France preys upon others in order to prolong her 
present political existence, and find abroad that food 
which begins to fail at home, from the unnatural in- 
crease of her appetite : Russia uses others only as bar- 
riers to defend what she possesses, and to secure, not 
to prolong, her political existence, supported by natural 
nourishment. France seeks conquests as the sources of 
life,as the atmosphere without which she cannot breathe : 
Russia seeks them as the enjoyments of life, with which 
she can dispense, and as the means of embellishment 
which she can easily resign. France spares nothing in her 
career from good to ill ; Russia, who according to Mr. 
Walsh himself, must grow better to arrive at the dan- 
gerous point of her power, saves all she can, in her 
progress from ill to good. France, like a fierce volca- 
no, preys upon her own entrails, and, in wild eruptions, 
destroys all around her to an immense distance : Rus- 
sia, healthy , within, increases in size, by the strength 
and regular growth of youth, and either embraces oth- 
ers in her way, or displaces, without destroying them. 
France preys upon commerce, wastes all the comforts 
of life, and hurls herself and the surrounding nations, 
from freedom to despotism, and from knowledge to ig- 
norance : Russia cherishes commerce, seeks the com- 
forts of life, and, in raising herself, must also raise oth- 
ers, from despotism to freedom, and from ignorance 
to knowledge. In short, France commences her de- 
scent, fatal to her neighbours, from the zenith of civil- 
ization : Russia, on the contrary, has commenced her 
ascent from the nadir of barbarism, and has not yet at- 
tained the height of civilization to which she aspires. If 
this contrast be not imaginary, and I feel confident, it 
is not ; who can hesitate a moment to choose between 
these two powers ? 

I perfectly agree with Mr. Walsh, as to the future 
reduction of the French power, and I rest my opinion 
precisely upon the grounds which he himself has fur- 
nished in support of the irresistibility of that power. I 
have already said, and repeat it again, that Buonaparte 
has done much towards # the ruin of France, and will 
Q 



122 STRICTURES ON THE 

finally consummate it, if he lives longer : but this by 
no means proves, that Russia is to succeed her in the 
unprincipled and wanton course of aggression : first, 
because such a course is incompatible with the essen- 
tial interests* of Russia ; secondly, because, as Mr. 
Walsh acknowledges, in contradiction to himself, 
" there is a better chance of escaping from her ;" in 
other words, independent of the probable check of dis- 
memberment^ there will be sufficient chtcks against 
her even in the power of Austria : for it is evident, 
that the reduction of French power can never take place, 
without increasing the power of Austria in corres- 
pondent proportion. 

* As the French politicians, according to Mr. Walsh, were 
sensible of the dangerous extravasation of the French power ; 
the Russian politicians, as they grow wiser, will be in their turn 
sensible of the same danger of extra-version, so that there will 
be a spontaneous check upon Russia, not likely to be removed 
by a Buonaparte, the Russian soil and climate being exceedingly 
unwholesome to upstarts and usurpers. 

t Mr. Walsh, who is the best champion against himself, at 
the very moment that he holds to public view the future dange- 
rous power of Russia, embraces and supports a plausible and 
not ill-founded opinion, that, as she increases in strength and 
population, " her Asiatic provinces, will, sooner or later, detach 
themselves from her sway" (vid. p. 79) ; now, if this dismem- 
berment, which must also be attended with the loss of all her 
colonies, be not a check to her power, it is a new secret, found 
out by Mr Walsh, to make a nation omnipotent l\ It is pre- 
cisely like his other discovery with regard to Russia, that a civ- 
ilized government and a barbarous people can exist together ; 
when, from the example of the present French government and 
people, to whom I have referred him for comparative honour 
in commercial transactions, it is evident that even a barbarous 
government (for such I consider the government of Buonaparte 
whether in relation to its extreme despotism or barefaced deprav- 
ity), cannot exist without,asit were,uncivilizing a people'; in which 
sense I take the retrograde progress to the unconsciousness of hon- 
our,beginning to manifest itself in those individuals of theFrench 
nation who are approximated to the influence of the government. 
If the reader is curious to know whence all these profound phi- 
losophical nostrums are borrowed by Mr. Walsh, the learned 
Dr. Clarke may be pointed at, as the great original, who has 
discovered that, in Russia, one sex can be highly polished and 
refined, without communicating its influence to the other, which 
(the male sex) is brutal in the extreme ! 1 ! 



CORRESPONDENCE RESPECTING RUSSIA. 1 2S 

Mr. Walsh admits explicitly, that the English politi- 
cians have generally entertained no great apprehension 
of Russia : as England, therefore, can boast of states- 
men full as great as any other nation in the world, 
their views of the progress of Russia ought to be con- 
sidered full as just and enlightened as the opinions of 
Mr. Walsh. In truth, Russia, being an agricultural 
and military power, is particularly harmless with respect 
to England ; and Mr. Walsh's attempt to alarm the lat- 
ter by conjuring up the phantom of Russian fleets, rid- 
ing in the Mediterranean, and driving the mistress of 
the ocean from her element, excites only a smile, and an 
exclamation of wonder. Great Britain knows too well 
where her danger lies ; she knows that it is only on the 
western side of the Atlantic, that the giant is in embryo 
who can, if she ever must lose it, wrest the trident from 
her hands. Russia never can be a naval power ; as the 
possessions of the whole Mediterranean would not bring 
her so many advantages as France enjoys at this mo- 
ment. The Baltic sea is too confined, and admits of no 
navigation in winter ; the Black sea is liable to the same 
objections, and the Mediterranean, supposing she pos- 
sessed it, would not materially remove those objections. 
She has no ocean open to her, and her naval commerce 
is not likely to be extensive enough to breed sailors. 
Her fleets are only for self defence, and cannot become 
the means of aggression ; and her abundance of naval 
materials must, for a long time to come, go to the sup- 
port of the British, and perhaps American navy. So 
far from her becoming dangerous to England, by plant- 
ing her standards on the walls of Constantinople ; she 
would only approximate herself to the power of Eng- 
land in that quarter ; and instead of being exposed only 
in one place, and that but partially, as she is now, she 
would then lay herself open in two, in a way far more ac- 
cessible, to the powerful control of the British navy. 
Her commerce, if increased by the acquisition, would 
be more at the mercy of the Brijfch ; and this would be 
a sufficient guarantee for friendship and moderation 
founded upon the union, more strongly cemented, of 



*24 STRICTURES, Sec. 

reciprocal interests. It was this contingency that Mr. 
Pitt overlooked in his policy towards Russia, when he 
yielded for a moment to the alarms of others ; and, as 
I have stated elsewhere, he never ceased to regret this 
oversight. Had he lived, and had again the power and 
opportunity, there is no doubt whatever, but he would 
rather assist, than check any designs or attempts which 
Russia may have meditated upon the capital of the Ot- 
toman empire. 

But it is time to conclude. I make no apology to 
Mr. Walsh, for any warmth of expression into which I 
may have been surprized : for, in fulminating his 
anathemas against my country without any reason, 
disguise, or mitigation, he has given me a cause of 
provocation, far greater than if he had directed them 
against myself. As a Russian, I have sworn open en- 
mity to the enemies of Russia, in any character what- 
ever : as an individual, I disclaim all personal resent- 
ment and animosity towards Mr. Walsh ; for I view 
him as the possessor of a noble mind, ruined by the in- 
vasion of the pernicious Edinburghean politicks, or as 
one who committed mental suicide, in being from 
choice, what others are from the compulsion of interest. 
To any severity of comment on myself, should he 
indulge in any, not amounting to personal injury, I will 
not make any replication whatever ; unless he under- 
takes the task to which I have challenged him, of dis- 
proving my anecdotes of Peter the Great : but if he 
brings forth his intended work, commenced and ma- 
tured under the influence of the same spirit which he 
has already evinced ; if he adopts some spurious off- 
spring of foreign calumniators, dresses it in his own 
fashion, and palms it upon the public, as one recogniz- 
ed by Russia for her own ; it will not be my fault — 
it will not be for want of will or means, if the bant- 
ling is not stripped of all its decoying ornaments, ex- 
posed in its true naked deformity, and sent back to 
its illegitimate parent^ 



Page 94, line 10, for Albert , read Alfred. 

5? E 69 6 r 



